Dib's Birthday, A Zadf Story
by Shadowdib
Summary: So, it's Dib's birthday, so he decides to invite Zim over for a small party. When both are told the dark truth about themselves, they have to rely on their newfound friendship to make it through. Zadf. T for later chapters, but mostly as a precaution.
1. Chapter 1

It's the day before Halloween, and the whole skool was abuzz. What they were going to wear, what they were going to do over break, how the entire human race was doomed…wait, what?

"Doom will rain down on all of your filthy child-heads, so you won't doom the planet further." Miss Bitters droned on about how everyone was going to die. Dib was doodling yet another picture of himself laughing at the unveiled Zim behind glass. Sighing, he crumpled it up, tossing at the alien himself. Zim was writing something in his notebook-Dib could see the caption 'flesh eating weasels.' Zim swung his head around at the paper, snatching it up.

"Who dares throw paper at the amazingness that is ZIM!" Dib only ripped out another sheet of paper, writing a few words.

'You're dead meat, space boy. I'm just waiting for your slip up…" The young paranormal investigator crumpled that up too, tossing it at the infuriated alien. Zim was whipping his head around crazily, his bad elvis wig drooping down, almost revealing his antenna. A sudden image flashed through Dib's large head-of him at age 28, destroying the Armada almost singlehandedly.

_That was the best revenge ever…it was just a stupid muffin! _Dib was jolted out of his thoughts by the high pitched skool bell. All the other kids leapt up, racing for the door, ready to consume the vile substances known as 'lunch.' As usual, Dib was the last one in the room. In no hurry to go to the cafeteria, he passed Zim's desk extra slowly, peeking at his notebook. It was mostly gibberish, half in English, half in the odd squiggly lines Dib recognized as Irken. The few words he recognized were doom, robots, and-his heart leapt-his own name. Several times, in fact. However, his name was always next to the Irken symbol for doom. Curious, he looked around-Miss. Bitters had disappeared, so he was alone. Taking one last sweeping glance, he snatched the notebook, hoping to interpret more of the symbols. Tucking it into his backpack, the boy headed towards the cafeteria, the area where his unpopularity was even more obvious. Settling down to Gaz on her Gameslave 3, he pulled out a magazine.

"Crop Circles Magazine…remember those sleep cuffs? I wish they still made them..." Dib griped to Gaz, who didn't even look up.

"You're in my light." Dib shifted over, turning his head to his usual lunchtime occupation-staring at Zim. As usual, he was poking his lunch with a disgusted look on his face. Not that Dib would be doing much different-even if Zim wasn't an alien, just tasting the slop was enough to make him turn green. Shrugging, Dib closed his magazine, looking at the cover. This month was a Bigfoot picture, taken in the woods a few blocks from the school, but that wasn't what caught Dib's attention. The date was October 29, and he'd gotten it new yesterday, meaning it was now one day before his thirteenth birthday. He remembered last year-that horrible nightmare world, along with being put in the crazy house for boys. The sad part was, that was one of his better birthdays. Usually, his dad was either gone or working experiments on him. In fact, Dib couldn't remember a time someone remembered his birthday, except for him. He pulled out a sack lunch-it was Gaz's week to make lunch. Today, it was ham with gummy worms and pizza grease. _No doubt from Bloatys… _Shuddering, Dib took a small experimental bite-_not that bad… I've had worse… _As Dib finished the oily sandwich, He noticed Zim getting up, walking over to dump his tray. _I wonder why he even bothers buying lunch…he never eats any of it… _sighing heavily, He was dumping his sack-still dripping with grease-in the trash, when he had an idea.

_I must be crazy…_Dib walked over to his nemesis as they left the cafeteria. Zim's Pak lights glowed brighter, causing him to turn around.

"What do you want today, Dib-monkey?" Dib had never felt nervous like this, and he knew he must be going crazy. Tracing the tile on the floor with the toe of his foot, his hands laced behind his back, he finally spoke after Zim looked at him impatiently, tapping his foot, arms crossed.

"Do you want to come to my house tommorow for my birthday?" Dib said as fast he could. Zim only looked at him confused.

"What?" Dib took a deep breath.

"It's my birthday tomorrow; do you want to come to my house? You know, just a temporary truce? You're the only person I really know that I would want to come…besides Keef…" Both shuddered at the memory of the creepy kid.

"Isn't tomorrow that one holiday? The one with the candy zombies?" Zim asked, rubbing his arms across each other, as if he was cold. Dib only blinked. _Wow, he still remembers that?_

"Um, yeah. I always thought it was cool I was born on Halloween…actually; I was born at 12:01, the first minute of the day. Maybe it's part of the reason I love paranormal stuff so much…anyways. Will you come? Maybe come in costume?" Zim stopped to consider, and Dib could see bits of data flashing past his eyes.

_He's either checking his schedule or his training manual on how to deal with this… _After about a minute, his eyes evened back out, settling back to the contacts normal black.

"I will accept your invite, earth monkey, on one condition. You will not try to expose me. If you do, I will call Gir, and lock him in duty mode again, aiming him at you." Dib nodded quickly, knowing he didn't want to deal with an actually threatening Gir.

"As long as you don't try to kill me. Oh, and can you just call me Dib? This weird insult thing is getting kind of old." Zim smiled with his pink zipper-teeth.

"Okay, Dib-human." Dib let out a big grin.

"Just Dib…" They walked outside together, surprising everyone with how close they were. When they were that close, they were usually screaming insults at each other. However, since they were at the low end of the popularity scale, they passed it off as just them being weird as usual. Zim was telling Dib about why he hated the humans so much, and Dib was surprised by how much he could relate.

"They turn against each other at the slightest disagreement, the leader is brought to power by every stupid person who is old enough, without checking if they are competent, and some of you humans look like whales. I could live in some of your clothes!" Dib was actually laughing.

"Yea, I see your point. Really, I don't know why I even bother protecting the human race. They're so stupid; they can't see something right in front of them!" Zim had moved on to some of his experiences since he'd landed on earth.

"And they took the mighty ZIM hostage, claiming I was human! My disguise was so brilliant, it even fooled aliens!" Dib was on the ground now, laughing harder than he had in a long time.

"I remember those guys! They took me too, claiming that I was weasel!" Zim started chuckling, and Dib looked up at the sound. He's heard the Irken laugh before-usually at him-but that was always in victory. This was different-he was laughing with Dib. It felt good to be laughing with someone, rather than being laughed at. Zim spoke, his words mirroring Dib's thoughts.

"I'm short on my planet, so I was a bit of a laughingstock. It feels good to be laughing with someone, rather than being laughed at…" Dib shrugged, a thought passing across his mind.

"Maybe we're more alike than different…"

…

I will continue this; I just needed a little break from my Negative Sonic story. I tried to keep them both as close in character as I could, but forgive little OOC. Anyways, rate and review please! My first Zim ff! (Yes, it might sound like it, but this is NOT Zadr. Never will be. Just Zadf!)


	2. Chapter 2

When the high pitched bell rang again, Zim unconsciously clapped his hands over the top of his head.

_Protecting his antenna, _Dib realized. He pulled a hat out of his backpack. It was from his dad, from a long time ago. His head didn't fit in it anymore, but being one of the only times Membrane had remembered him, he'd kept the hat as a keepsake. Rubbing his hand over the soft fabric, he plopped it on Zim's head. Zim looked around for a moment, surprised before rubbing his hand over it.

"Um…what was that for?" He asked, wondering why his enemy was being so nice. Dib only smiled, grabbing Zim's hand and pulling him towards the doors.

"Truce, remember? It looked like the noise hurt, so I figured the hat would help." He shrugged. "C'mon. I'd rather face the Armada then Miss. Bitters if we're late." They were on the opposite side of the playground, furthest from the doors, so they had to run. Still stunned at how nice the Dib-beast was being, Zim let himself be pulled towards the oppressive building. After a few seconds, he yanked his glove away.

"Truce doesn't mean you have to be nice to me." Zim said slowly, puzzled at the new Dib. He wasn't as annoying, and he seemed to care for Zim's well-being.

"Well, I just thought…nevermind. Let's just go." Despite Zim's protests, he yanked him along behind his eager form, so fast that his wig fell behind him, onto the filthy floor just inside the door.

"STOP!" Zim yanked his hand out of Dib's tight grip, his glove pulling off in Dib's hand. He ran back, holding his hands, both gloved and ungloved, over his head in a vain attempt to cover his antennae. He was almost there when he ran into a white blur. Grabbing his wig, and the green hat next to it, he was about to replace them on his head, until he noticed he'd bumped into a person. Eyes widening in horror, the Irken took in everything, before letting out a sigh. The rainbow on his shirt was a sign, saying it was all right. It was only…

"HI ZIM!" Zim groaned, in no mood to deal with his former 'friend'

"Hi Keef…how are you still even alive?" Keef let out a happy grin.

"I have no idea! Wanna-"Zim plopped the wig and hat back in place before storming past the naive boy.

"Not now. I'm late! Come, Dib. I can get us there faster." Dib ran up, face blushing slightly at having almost exposed Zim on accident. _Why do I suddenly care so much? Ever since the moment I first saw him, I've waited for that…but now, he's such a big part of my life, if he left I'd have nothing to do…back to being the crazy, maybe even more so now…_ They had rounded a corner, and Dib was jolted out of his thoughts by being suddenly lifted into the air. Zim was carrying him on his back, a cord binding him to the back of the Pak. They were airborne-wait, no. Zim was on his spider legs, and Dib was tied to his back. He could feel the warm Pak behind him and rooms whipped by at a frightening pace.

"Why does Bitters have to have the furthest room from the doors…" Zim was muttering under his breath. By now, the hallways were empty, except for the occasional bug.

"Um, Zim? We're here…" Dib said as best he could with the cord squeezing his lungs.

"Huh? Oh." Zim retracted the cord, letting Dib fall the 7 feet to the floor. Luckily, all the time spent escaping traps-both from Zim and his father-had led to increased reflexes, so he landed on his feet. Shaking himself off, Dib waited for the spider legs to reenter the Pak before opening the door.

"Why are you late?" Miss. Bitters hissed, slithering up to the two boys. Zim, who was less intimidated by the teacher, spoke.

"We were detained in the skoolyard, Sir." That seemed to be enough for the teacher, or maybe she just wanted to just continue her lesson of Doom.

"Go sit down, so your child stink is further from me." Both boys took their respective seats, for once not glaring at each other. After a few minutes, Rita poked Zim.

"Why did you come in with Dib? Are you friends? Maybe he'll shut up for 5 minutes now…" Zim shook his head, hissing back at her.

"We are not _friends_! We just have a truce is all. Zim needs no friend!" Rita shrugged.

"You're both friendless losers…knew it was bound to happen eventually…" Rita started writing back in her notebook, but Zim pondered what she'd said, and thought back to recess, and what the Dib-monkey had casually remarked.

_Maybe we're more alike than different…_

_No! I'm nothing like that hyuman! _Zim started writing a list of his qualities, to prove he wasn't like Dib.

Dedicated, proud, strong, amazing, clever, advanced-_Arggh! All of them describe us both!_ Zim pounded his fist into his desk in frustration, causing a crack in the ancient wood. By now, everyone was used to Zim's random outbursts, but a few still looked up anyway. Zim only balled his fist up and smiled with his pink teeth.

"I am-"Dib piped in, interrupting him.

"Normal, we know." He rolled his eyes through his glasses. Zim glared at him, blinking in shock when Dib winked at him. Suddenly, it struck the Irken.

_If we act different then we usually do, the other kids might get suspicious… Dib is smarter then I give him credit for._ Zim looked back to his paper. He'd run out of space, so he reached for his notebook. _Hey, where's my book? _Zim checked around his desk, then inside it, making sure he had it-nothing. _Where could it be? _Out of habit, he checked Dib up and down-and noticed that he was studying a light green notebook with hawk-like intensity. The page he was looking at was in…Irken.

"Hey Dib-beast! That's mine! Give it back!" Dib looked up, startled.

"What?" Zim got up on his chair, a habit he had when he was angry about something.

"My notebook! I have all my plans, my spare costume chip implants, and-"He cut himself off. Everyone was staring now. Dib had not his usual smug look when Zim did something to reveal himself, but instead a look of horror. Thinking quickly, Dib jumped in.

"Oh, those Halloween costume plans? Those were actually pretty cool, space boy…fine. I'll give it back after skool." Everyone seemed satisfied with that, and Zim settled back into his uncomfortable chair. Zoning out as Bitters droned on, he left himself to his own thoughts.

_Why did he have my notebook in the first place?_ Glancing over at his rival, the boy had put the book away. It was peeking out of the front pocket, mocking Zim.

_No matter what happens, he'll always hate you…_

_Shut up! We have a truce now!_

_I'm just paper…you're the one going crazy._

_Silence!_

Zim started drawing on his desk, adding to the years of graffiti. His pencil almost broke because of how hard he was pressing. It started out as a model of Gir, but ended up as a picture of the Dib on his lab table. Shocked, Zim looked closer.

_That's what I dream about? Killing the only one who even remotely understands? Why-_The skool bell rang loudly in his antennae, but it was softer than usual. Zim fingered the hat on his head.

_Forgot about that… _He took the hat off, noticing the logo. Mysterious Mysteries.

_Geez, is everything paranormal with Dib-monkey? _He waited for said hyuman to gather his things before getting up. Dib walked straight past Zim, before dropping his backpack. Sighing, Zim grabbed his pack, snatching his book. Dib blushed-he usually wasn't clumsy.

"Um…thanks?" Zim only glared at him.

"Why did you have my book?"Dib shrugged.

"I was going to try to translate the Irken…I couldn't get anything, don't worry." Zim rifled through the pages, making sure that there was no damage.

"So…want to walk to my house?" Zim was surprised by the hospitality.

"All right, as long as you don't take anything else of mine." Zim replaced the hat.

"Why do you like that show? I mean, you're still using 2-D boxes for entertainment! I mean, at least get holo-screens…" Dib chuckled.

"Don't get back into the whole superior species thing again. I got it the first 200 times." Dib shrugged.

"I'm sure you know where I live…I mean, you've chased me back there a million times. Just let me tell Gaz, okay?"

_Speak of the devil…_

"Hey! Gaz!" The girl didn't even look up from her Gameslave.

"What? Make it quick. I'm almost finished with this level."

"I'm going to walk home with Zim, okay?" Gaz looked up.

"Fine…for once, I can have some peace on the way home." With that, she walked away. Dib turned back to Zim, who was tapping his foot.

"I have call Gir, make sure he's not destroying anything. I'll meet you at the corner." Dib nodded, then walked towards the doors. He heard Zim scurrying the other way, towards the now empty rooms. As he crossed the doors, he pulled out a stack of pictures. Pictures of Irken writing.

_Good thing I always carry a camera…now I can figure out his next plan! _Dib smiled to himself, but suddenly felt guilt welling up in his chest.

_It's like you're lying._

_It's for the human race!_

_What has the human race ever cared for you? _Dib had no answer for that.

…

Rate and review, please!


	3. Chapter 3

Yay! We see Gir! I'm not the best writer for Gir, but I'm basing him partly off my friend. She is a real life Gir, I kid you not. Again, forgive any OOC, as I'm still new to this.

…

"Gir!" Zim hissed, his radio communicator in front of him. He was squatting in the corner of the science lab, it being the only empty room at the time, except for the bathroom. But that was out, because of the leaky pipes…he took a look around. Models of the human body, along with a frog dissection project in the corner.

_You hyumans are disgusting… _He was interrupted by his insanely happy sidekick, grinning and waving crazily at the camera in his usual robot form.

"Masta! You gonna come watch the scary monkey show? I got Minimoose all pretty!" Gir blurted, his metal body coated in an odd red substance, most likely ketchup. The insane robot turned his camera, letting Zim see how he'd covered Minimoose with beads. Looking closer, Zim groaned as he noticed his second minion was also coated in lipstick and dripping relish.

_Where does he even get this stuff?_

"Not now, Gir. Connect me to the house computer." Gir grinned widely.

"Okeedokee!" Zim felt a jolt in his Pak as the computer connected to his inner brain. To anyone who's happened to pass by, his eyes would've been blank, and he wasn't even breathing.

_Computer?_

**Yes Master?**

_Keep an eye on Gir; make sure he doesn't destroy anything. Let him watch TV or something._

**Why?**

_I have that new update, and antivirus system. Plus, Gir overloaded you the other day, so I'll make sure you only see pictures of that horrible monkey of you don't._

The computer groaned. **Fiiine…** Zim unhooked himself, reconnecting with reality.

"I shouldn't leave the Dib-hyuman alone for too long…" Taking a look around to make sure he was alone, Zim activated the spider legs. Within a minute, he was right behind Dib, so he dropped down to the ground and tapped his shoulder. Dib jolted up, head swinging around madly, until he saw it was just Zim.

"Oh, it's you. Sorry, guess I'm just paranoid." Zim smiled.

"Aren't you always?" They started walking, still subconsciously leaning away from each other. After all, some things never change…Dib spoke first.

"Sooo…what was Gir doing? Watching TV?"

"No...He was dressing up Minimoose…" Dib chuckled.

"Figures you'd get the worst assistants ever…" Zim only glared at Dib.

"Silence!" Dib walked faster, almost skipping ahead. They were a block away, when Dib casually remarked,

"You know, it's kind of nice to talk to someone…Gaz is always playing her Gameslave." Zim shrugged.

"I always walk back to the base alone, unless I pass someone on the way. No one else acknowledges my intelligence…at least you know how I'm smarter than all of you." Dib snorted.

"Riiight, space boy. Keep telling yourself that." Zim shoved him, and Dib pushed him back. It escalated into a shoving match, with them pushing the other across the sidewalk. Eventually, Dib pulled out the water gun he had in his backpack. Zim's face paled.

"You wouldn't dare." Dib's grin spread across his whole face.

"Wouldn't I?" He squirted a few pumps into his palm, then quickly raised his hand, letting the water arc towards Zim. The terrified Irken was running backwards, and Dib was pointing and laughing. Suddenly, Zim tripped over a crumpled Poop can, falling onto the asphalt. Dib was laughing even harder, until he noticed that his nemesis has landed in the rain gutter-and it had rained yesterday. His wig had fallen off again, and one of his antennae had gotten caught in the gutter grate. Zim was screaming in pain, both from the water and his antennae. Dib dropped his squirt gun, and picked Zim up in a fit of strength. He untangled his antenna, but Zim went completely limp when he did. Dib set him down gently on the sidewalk above the gutter, and fished out the wig, along with one of his contact lenses. He didn't replace them, knowing the filth on them and the water would only cause more pain. His hat was still dry, so he set that on his enemy's head. Dib picked Zim up again, surprised by how light he was. He turned the small thin body towards him, so his face was burrowed into his shirt. He was barely moaning (and not moving), but still breathing.

"Oh crap…" Dib wrapped his jacket around the limp Irken. His antennae started twitching, and Dib noticed that his Pak was flashing.

_Must be doing repairs…Should I bring him to his base, or my house? Gaz wouldn't care, and Dad probably won't even be home…unless I'm really unlucky…but Gir might mess him up even more…but his computer could help…but I know him better than anyone, and I can use Dad's labs! Arrgh! This stinks…if only I knew what he wanted. _Zim stirred a little, his skin still sizzling. He opened his eyes a millimeter, woozy.

"What now, My Tallest?" Dib blinked.

"What?" Zim played with Dib's shirt, moving his fingers like he was typing on a keyboard.

"I'm sending my report now…" Dib realized what was going on.

"You're delirious…just go back to sleep." Suddenly, the Pak started flashing red, and Zim gasped deeply.

"Need…recharging…" Dib grasped instantly what had happened. His antennae had needed a lot of healing, and they messed with his mind. That, along with the water, had caused his Pak to overload itself trying to heal it all in a short amount of time. He gripped Zim tighter, then turned around.

"Your base it is, then." He started running, before realizing he'd left his backpack back on the sidewalk. He raced back, swinging it over his shoulder.

_Man, those spider legs would be really useful fright about now…almost there… _Dib knew the way to Zim's as well as he knew his own house. After all, he'd spent countless hours spying on the place. Some might call it stalking, Dib called it necessary. (Zim called it annoying) Now came the tricky part…getting past his security. Sure, Dib could do it on his own, but holding Zim? Being small, (except for his head) Dib could usually maneuver around the gnomes, but holding Zim's added weight messed with all of his former strategies.

_Well, here goes nothing…_ Dib snuck past the first gnome, pushing the emergency shutdown button he'd planted there a few weeks ago. All the gnomes wilted, but instantly perked up again.

_Curse Irken technology…_ He kicked the second gnome's head clean off, then grabbed the laser off the third. The boy then shot the rest. Sighing in relief, luck was on his side as Gir had left the door unlocked. (Or maybe Zim had…no one but Dib ever broke in, and most of the time he couldn't get past the lawn security) Sighing, Dib walked right in.

**Intruder alert.** Dib looked around-the voice sounded like it was coming from the ceiling. Suddenly, he was knocked onto his butt by a chunk of metal, kissing his face.

"Hiiii Dibby! You gonna play with me and Masta? I dressed Minimoose for ya!" Dib tried to shake Gir off, but he'd clamped one hand to his head, the other waving crazily. Dib held Zim up.

"Gir, how can I get into Zim's lower labs?" Gir grinned.

"Through the potty!" Dib groaned- he's wondered why Zim was in the kitchen so much-and why the toilet was in there. He'd just figured that was just Zim, not knowing much about human culture when he first landed. (Not that he knew much more now...)

"Anywhere else?" Gir tapped his eyes, flashing red for a millisecond before answering.

"The trash can, Sir!" Dib shifted Zim over, noting how the flashing on his Pak was getting slower.

"Better hurry then…"

…

Why do I like hurting some of my favorite characters? First Sonic, now this? Geez…oh well. Rate and review for Zimmy to get better! Please?


	4. Chapter 4

Dib took a deep breath, trying to decide which would be worse. Settling on the trash can, he overrode his common sense and stepped in. He was ready, but still felt a jolt in his chest as the lid closed and he was lowering down. Gir jumped into the toilet, and Dib could hear his giggling through the floor.

_And people call ME crazy…if only they could see Gir. I mean, really! He's GREEN! What dog is green and has a zipper? Maybe Zim has a point…humans are idiots…even my Dad, the supposed smartest person on the planet, doesn't see the truth right in front of him! _Dib only had a moment to realize that he was agreeing with Zim before the darkness subsided and he was bathed with an eerie purple glow. He took a hesitant step forward-he'd only gotten this far a few times, and was much less knowledgeable about the lower levels of the base.

"How do I fix Zim? Gir would know…or maybe not. I could ask the computer, but it might not listen to me…oh well. It's worth a shot. I'm talking to myself again…got to stop doing that…" Dib muttered distractedly. He was left to contemplate for only a few seconds more, before Gir dropped out a chute above him. Dib noticed that the elevator wasn't activated, but decided not to push it.

"So, Gir…how does Zim recharge his Pak?" Gir suddenly snapped into Duty mode.

"That is privileged information!" Dib, who knew almost as much about Gir as he knew about Zim, knew the phase would pass.

"How does he recharge his Pak?" He insisted again. Gir's lights flicked back to turquoise.

"The computa' plugs him in like a TV! He looks cute all quiet!" Dib sighed in relief, until he noticed something. There was a small purple clock on Zim's wrist, reading 3:46, then 3:45, the number dropping every second.

"What's going on?" The answer came from above him.

**His Pak is completely dead. That's his life clock.** Dib stepped back in shock, dropping Zim. A flood of memories rushed back-of Zim's missing Pak, of how he's screamed something about needing it, how it had attached to Dib, making him completely lose it…Dib clutched his head, as he remembered everything that had ever happened to Zim. The smeethood accident, Operation impending doom 1, absorbing his cocky attitude, and that horrible Sizzlor…after a minute, Dib pulled himself out of the memories long enough to notice that he'd dropped Zim pretty hard. His head was bleeding, green blood. Dib took a step forward, picking him up again. The clock now read 2:27. Dib started panicking, running around in little circles, still holding Zim. His limp body kept shifting in Dib's arms, almost falling again twice. Finally, Dib ran into Gir, who had copied him and was running around, screaming like a lunatic. The computer decided to interrupt.

**May I take Zim?**

Dib looked up slowly-he'd forgotten the computer was everywhere.

"What?" The computer let out a huge, exaggerated sigh.

**He's got a minute and 12 seconds to live. I can recharge the Pak.** Dib started blushing at how stupid he'd been, and held Zim up. The computer sighed again.

**Over on the table. Turn him face down. **Dib walked over to the steel-like table quickly, setting Zim down gently. A huge gray cord snaked out of the tangle on the ceiling, attaching to the big hatch on the back of his Pak. Dib turned Zim over, looking at his eyes. One still had a contact in, and the hat was almost falling off. Dib gently took it off, and his antennae shot straight up, glad to be free. One eye was blurred, the data flashing past the maroon orb. Dib gently peeled off the other contact, wincing when he felt a sticky substance on the underside.

"Gross…so, is it working?"

**Well, he's not going to die. Other than that, no idea. **The computer replied sarcastically. Dib let out a sigh of relief, setting Zim back down. He noticed a chair in the corner, but decided against it when he noticed ketchup all over the seat.

"Oh well…might as well stand." He checked his watch-Zim only had about another thirty seconds if something went wrong. Twenty, ten, five…A loud beeping sound came from above him.

**Zim'll be fine. I'm just recharging him like normal. It'll be another hour and a half, so unless you want to wait, I suggest you go.** Dib turned his face up.

"I'll stay, thanks. Can I have a chair or something?" The computer sighed.

**Fiiine…** A bed dropped from the hole in the ceiling Gir had come from. Dib shook his head.

"That'll work, but that's a bed, not a chair. Get your English right."

**Zim speaks Irken in here half of the time, so don't blame me.** Dib shrugged. The bed did look pretty comfy…he walked over, sinking into the soft fabric. It was then that he realized how tired he was. He'd been running on pure adrenaline, ragging the boy out completely. It probably didn't help that he'd stayed up until 2 that morning finishing his homework. As he sank into sleep, the last thing he remembered was Gir jumping up next to him, snuggling close.

…

"DIB!" Said Dib jolted out of sleep.

"Whaa? Gaz? 5 more minutes…" Someone started shaking him roughly, and Dib had to swallow a scream as the first things he saw were two maroon orbs.

"Zim? What are you…" He trailed off, noticing that he was in Zim's base. "Why am I…" Suddenly, everything from the day before flooded back. The water, Skool, the pictures… _The pictures._

_Oh please tell me he didn't find-_ Zim shoved some paper in Dib's face.

"WHAT ARE THESE?" Dib's fears were confirmed as he pulled them away. They were the pictures he'd taken of Zim's notebook. Zim grabbed them back, ripping them into shreds.

"_Get out." _He said in a low, dangerous voice. Dib knew he meant business-usually Zim would've screamed. Sighing, he grabbed his backpack and walked out slowly, heading toward the elevator. He was getting in when something clamped onto the back of his head.

"Get off, Gir. I'm leaving." He heard a sniffle behind him, but the weight disappeared. He trudged through the living room; deactivating the gnomes before he left so he wouldn't be shot as he left. As he crossed the borderline, just past the I love earth sign, he heard a slight zapping sound-turning around, Dib saw the gnomes had been reactivated. Sighing, he slogged back to his house. If he'd hung around just a few minutes longer, he might've heard a sound like someone cracking a table with their fist in anger.

…

Ohhh, Dib got found out…but this isn't over yet! Rate and review to give some Dib some virtual cookies to help him feel better!


	5. Chapter 5

Dib trudged back to his house, backpack seeming to get heavier with every step.

_Why did I take those pictures? It's not like I ever could have figured out the Irken writing…Arrgh! This is so stupid…Oh well. I guess everything goes back to normal now…except he'll probably hate me even more. No matter what I do, everything goes wrong. My life sucks…_

He let out a huge sigh, placing his hand on the small pad beside the door. Upon identifying his handprint, the door flew open, almost smacking him. Gaz was playing a game (of course) and, as usual, Membrane was nowhere to be seen. His screen was deactivated in the corner, so Dib assumed that he must be working on another 'change the world' experiment. He dropped his backpack next to the couch, heading up to his room. As he left, he glanced back-Gaz was still looking at her game, and made no motion to notice her sibling.

_Even at home I'm nobody. The only one who even remotely understands me loathes me…what's to live for? Well, there's my birthday…if the first week of 13 isn't any better than now, then I'm using that ray gun Zim dropped at skool on myself._ Once the idea sparked in Dib's head, he couldn't believe that he'd even considered suicide-but really, it was right.

"Gaz treats me like crap, Dad doesn't even notice me half the time, and Zim….Zim…oh, I don't even know anymore." Dib sighed, creaking open his door. The dark blue interior usually calmed him, but today it only reminded him of the lower level of the base. He sunk into his bed, curling up into a little ball. Images of past fights and moments from both of their lives flashed through his mind. The first time they met…uniting to beat Tak…and that hamster…actually they worked pretty well with each other when they weren't trying to murder the other. Dib rolled out of his bed, walking across the room. His boots squeaked a little, but he didn't even notice as he flicked on his laptop, ready to start his usual bored/stressed pastime.

"Now, to review my 'Zim files…"

At Zim's base

Zim was sulking, and Gir was bringing hundreds of platefuls of waffles in an attempt to cheer him up. Minimoose was nowhere to be seen, probably washing himself off.

"Arrgh! Why did I even think the Dib-monkey had changed at all? He's just as bad as any other stink-pig on this dirtball!"

**Well, he did save your life.** Zim looked up, confused.

"What are you saying, computer?" It let out a long, dragged out sigh.

**Why do you think you ended up on your table recharging? Something happened outside; you probably fell in water, overloading your Pak. It's a miracle you're still here at all, you only had about 3 ½ minutes when he brought you in. You owe the Dib-human your life.** Zim froze-the last thing he'd remembered was the shoving match, then Dib squirted him with the water…and falling back…after that, nothing. He searched his memories, but it was a total blank.

"ARRGH! This is just…" He let loose with a string of cuss words in Irken. Gir started running around, repeating everything his master said. In the middle of the chaos, Minimoose floated in, clean. He started squeaking, flying around like a plane about to crash. After a few minutes, Zim calmed down enough to sit down on the couch, deciding what to do next.

"I could ask Dib-stink what happened. He'd probably edit, but I'd get the main story. But then, an Invader needs help from no helper! I will find out what happened… I know, I'll sneak in his room, then use a truth serum! INGENIUS! I am so AMAZING!" The Invader pumped his fist in the air, heading down to the lab. Gir and Minimoose followed, and Gir was eating some unidentified food-like substance, waving it around. When Zim climbed into the toilet, he got a vision of Dib doing the same. As if the computer could read his mind, he answered him.

**He actually went down the trash can. He seemed worried…**

"LIES!" Suddenly, Zim had an idea. "Computer, when I get down to the lab, show me the video tape of the Dib-hyuman from today. I want to see what he was doing." The computer sighed, and Zim could tell from his voice that he would be shrugging his shoulders if it'd had them.

**Fiiine.** As Zim stepped out, he almost collapsed when the video filtered into his Pak without warning. Zim was about to yell at the computer, but stopped short upon seeing the footage. Dib was out on the lawn, obviously trying very hard to not hurt Zim. When he walked in, he cradled the Irken gingerly before Gir landed on his face. After Dib said something Zim couldn't quite make out, he stepped into the trash can.

The feed cut to the lab, where Dib was talking to himself. Zim only caught the word 'fix' before Dib managed to weasel how to recharge Zim out of Gir. He was about to lie him on the table when he noticed the life-clock. When the computer told Dib what it was, he dropped Zim and started running around crazily, screaming at the top of his lungs. If Zim had still had hands, they'd be over his antennae. As it was, Zim was thinking._ He really did seem to care…NO! INVADERS NEED NO ONE!_ Zim was startled out of his thoughts when Dib stopped screaming and laid Zim out on the table, being as gentle as he would've been with a smeet. Zim was amazed with the care the hyuman displayed. Suddenly, the feed cut, so Zim assumed that nothing important happened after that. When he snapped back to reality, he was on the lab floor. Grumbling as he stood up, his mind was full of the images. Dib seemed to show actual emotion…Zim usually only saw fear or determination. Gir ran up and started hugging Zim tightly.

"Awww, is masta' sad?" Zim shoved Gir off him and walked over to his video screen. He dialed the familiar number. When the faces appeared on the screen, he grinned. Finally, someone who knew him well enough to help him sort through these odd events! (Other than Gir, but-no.)

"Hello, My Tallest!" Red rolled his eyes and shoved a kernel of popcorn in his mouth.

"What now, Zim?"

"There is something I'd like to tell you…"

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><p>Ohh, Zim ropes the Tallest into the mix! Rate and review please, and as always forgive some OOC.<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

Dib pulled himself off of the computer keys when his alarm rang across the room. _I must have fallen asleep…what time is it?_ A quick glance at the clock confirmed that it was 6:46. Looking down, he was still dressed-boots and all._ Oh well, saves a couple of minutes. _He had no need to mess with his hair, as it always maintained it's shape-even in the worst bed head. It was a bit creepy, actually. Sliding down the banister (Hey, Membrane never taught them better!) Dib saw Gaz was eating the last of the cereal, so, as usual, Dib grabbed an apple and a piece of toast. (Not super toast-he still didn't trust that particular experiment.) Today, he decided to risk it and snag a soda. When he caught sight of the calendar, his head jolted it-it was Halloween-he was thirteen.

"Hey, Gaz!" She didn't even look up.

"What? You voice is bugging me, and I'm almost to the end of this level, so make it quick."

"Know what's special about today?" Gaz frowned for a moment, thinking. Suddenly, her face showed a glimmer of recognition. _She actually remembers?_

"It's Halloween. Now go get a costume and stop bugging me." Dib sighed. It was probably too much to ask for-in fact, he would be amazed if she remembered her own birthday. Dib turned and started walking upstairs-he might as well try to figure out a costume. It'd be a while before Gaz was ready, and it had to be something easy, something that wouldn't be too noticeable, but still kind of funny-Dib was stumped.

"What to do…" All of a sudden, Dib caught eye of the wig he'd snagged from Zim yesterday, along with the two contacts. _Naw, that's stupid…but it'd be funny…to me at least. I'm sure the other kids would laugh, but it'd really tick Zim off…I'll keep it in my backpack, and if Zim is there, I'll put it on before going in. Even if he's not…yea, that'd be hilarious! _ Dib snagged the pitiful disguise, then headed to the bathroom to wash them off. It took 3 minutes of solid scrubbing, but the wig and contacts were finally clean. Dib gelled down his hair and placed the wig on, then took off his glasses. Everything went blurry, but when he put on the contacts everything was crystal clear-clearer then with his glasses even!

"They must be actual contact lenses! That's kind of cool…" When he looked in the mirror, he cracked a smile.

"Now for the shirt…" He rummaged through his closet and finally came up with a plain dark pink shirt. Dib winced as he remembered that particular test-it had to do with whether spiders were color blind. The matching lighter pink turtleneck was another foot down, but Dib found it fairly easily. The stripes were easy with a sharpie, and Dib pulled his other shirt off. Slipping on the turtleneck, he almost felt like he was doing something wrong, impersonating Zim.

"Oh come on-he needs a laugh. He's probably still mad at me, but who cares? It's not like he can shoot me in skool or anything…" He pulled the t-shirt on top of the turtleneck, then replaced the wig and headed over to the mirror again. He laughed out loud when he saw himself-he looked just like Zim, save the teeth and his ears. (And his nose.) He debated whether wearing the trench coat, but decided that it would probably be a good idea if the other kids laughed too hard-or if Zim got really mad. Pulling it back on, he headed downstairs. By now, it was 7:13, so Gaz was ready. Suddenly, the door flew open, and Membrane walked in.

"Happy creation day, son!" Dib sighed-his dad's language was always weird regarding him and Gaz.

"Wow, you remembered. So…why are you home?" Membrane stepped forward and set his glove on Dib's shoulder.

"Can I talk to you? Gaz, you can start for skool. Your brother can catch up." Gaz shrugged, pulling out her Gameslave and heading out the door. Dib, confused as to why Membrane would take time to talk to him, complied and headed down to the lower level. When they reached the upper lab, Membrane pulled out a silver box. When he undid the lock, Dib got a sudden feeling of foreboding-like his whole life was about to change. _That's stupid…it's probably something for my birthday…_ When the box popped open, hundreds of papers came flying out. Dib grabbed the nearest one-the headline was project ELF.

"Dad…what's this?" Membrane shuffled the papers around, pulling one out. Dib was confused when he looked at the title, but it suddenly hit him like a bolt of lightning. He couldn't believe it, but there it was, in black and white.

_**Experimental Life Form-Durable Intelligent Boy. **_He looked up at his 'father', not sure of what to think.

"You were one of my most successful experiments, exception of your sister. People have been trying to create artificial life for years, but I finally succeeded. I knew I'd have to tell you eventually-you were getting too smart for your own good. I vowed to let you know when you were 13…and here we stand. So…don't tell Gaz." Dib stared, open-mouthed.

"Me…and Gaz. Are we…?" Membrane shook his head.

"No, Gaz isn't related to you. Your DNA was from me, Gazs's was from my former assistant. Now…run along, or you'll be late for skool. We don't want even more attention on you, do we now?" Dib's eyes widened as Membrane left the lab, staring at the stairs as he left. He hugged himself, curling the trench coat closer. After a few minutes, his watch beeped. It was Gaz-for once she was paying attention.

"Dib, if you don't get to skool in the next 5 minutes, we're both going to get in trouble. So haul your lazy butt up here, before I-"Dib cut the transmission, and started running up the stairs. He raced across the familiar route, not even noticing where he was going.

_Why did he never tell me? In a way, I'm as alien as Zim! I'm not even human…what do I do now? Stay at home? I can't run away…hell; I might burn out or something! For now, I suppose I act like nothing changed…but do I really have a right to even chase Zim anymore? I don't need to protect the humans anymore…they never cared for me at all. _ Dib was still dwelling on that when the skool bricks entered his vision. The bell buzzed loudly in his ears, and Dib let out a sigh of relief. _So I'm not late…_ When he entered Miss Bitter's room, he got a few stares. When he sat down, he glanced around the room. Suddenly, he heard gasps as his trench coat fell open.

"What?" He asked, confused, until he looked down. He was still wearing his Zim uniform-due to what had happened that morning, he'd completely forgotten. His cheeks flushed deep red as he felt up-somehow, miraculously, the wig had stayed on. He reached up the rub his glasses, but they were gone. He still had the contacts on too.

"Crap…" Zita laughed out loud.

"Wow, Dib has a good costume for once. It's almost as good as Zim's!" Dib turned his head, gasping when his eyes caught Zim.

He was exposed. Completely.

His eyes were uncovered, and his antennae were sticking straight up. Dib reached up to pull his wig off, but knew it was too late anyway.

"Zim! What are you doing?" Zim turned to look at Dib, and the boy was shocked to see how lifeless his eyes were.

"What do you think, Dib? I'm…uh…" He rubbed his head nervously, and seemed almost shocked that he wasn't wearing his wig. His eyes widened as he noticed all of the kids were waiting for his answer.

"Wearing my costume! That's it! I'm…normal…" Dib shrugged, but he'd push it further after skool. It took a few seconds before he realized something-Zim had called him by his name. Not Dib-stink, not filthy human, just Dib.

_What could have happened?_

A/N The whole 'Dib is an experiment' thing isn't my idea. I heard there was going to be a later episode explaining that, but it was canned because it would raise too many questions, like what was Gaz. I thought it was weird that Dib's arm control nerves were in his stomach (nanozim), and so I decided to try this story to explain it. There will be more, answering questions like why was Zim out of his disguise? As always, forgive OOC, and rate and review! I want a few more reviews before the next chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

Dib settled further into his chair, thinking.

_Should I tell Zim? He'd probably like me better than…both aliens…yea. I'll corner him after skool and ask him about his disguise. I'll be able to work this into that somehow…_

"Hey, Dib." He turned around, then groaned-it was Zim.

"What?"

"M-meet me during lunch. Behind the parking lot." Dib shrugged. _That saves me trying to follow him…but why was he stuttering? He almost looks…scared. _Dib, puzzled by this, jumped when the bell rang for lunch. Zim stayed in his seat until Dib passed him, then stood up. He grabbed Dib's arm, steering him toward the exit.

"Let _go _of me, Space Boy! I can go myself!" Zim deflated slightly at his words, and Dib saw that his antennae were drooping.

_What could possibly be wrong? _They walked in silence until they reached the semi-abandoned lot. There were few cars, as president man had said only those who couldn't walk could use vehicles to get to their place of work, to help cut down the incredible amount of pollution.

"Zim…what's wrong? You're usually not stupid enough to forget something like your disguise…" Suddenly, Zim lunged forward, Pak legs extended toward Dib. Shocked, Dib jumped as high as he could, catching the flagpole above his head. Zim looked up in amazement.

"Dib-worm…how on Irk did you do that?" Dib had closed his eyes, so he opened them slowly and looked down. He was almost 13 feet in the air-straight up. Scared, he gently let go, landing on both feet without a scratch. Zim retracted his legs, backing slowly away.

"In the name of the Tallest…what's going on?" Dib looked himself up and down. He still _looked_ normal…

"I think I may know…but you tell me first. Why did you come to skool exposed?" Zim sighed, resigning himself to Dib's terms.

"My-The Tallest. I called them, asking for help dealing with you, and they finally broke. Told me that my mission was as much banishment as foodcourtia was. They were so determined to get rid of me, that they had a scientist rewire my Pak from the Massive so that I can't leave the planet. I'm stuck here for good. I…they…talked to the control brains. They agreed, called me a defect again, then cut the transmission. Now, I can't receive Irken transmissions or send them." Dib's mouth hung open.

_Who would be that cruel? _He couldn't imagine being stranded on an alien planet with way no to contact his own kind, who all loathed him…if he even had a kind anymore… Dib took a step forward, setting his hand on Zim's shoulder. Zim instantly recoiled, slapping Dib away.

"What about you? How did you jump that high?" Dib shrugged, but Zim started shaking him. Hard.

"Fine-just let me go!" Zim complied, then folded his hands, waiting.

"You remember that today's my birthday, right?" Zim nodded slowly, so Dib continued.

"And you know that my Dad is Professor Membrane, the famous scientist." Zim nodded again.

"Well…I might not be as normal as everybody else…" At this, Zim actually laughed.

"Since when were you ever even close to normal, Dib-stink?" Dib stopped, thinking about it.

_He's 100% right. I never fit in, even when I thought I was normal…_ _all this time, they accepted the alien more than me! _Dib sighed.

"That's not the point. The point is, Membrane isn't really my dad, Gaz isn't my sister, and I'm not even completely human." Zim froze-all this time, and Dib was protecting something that wasn't even really his kind? It was unthinkable.

"What?" Zim looked lost. Dib sighed again, head drooping down.

"I'm just an experiment…" Suddenly, all the pieces fell into place. The jump, his uncanny ability to drive others away, how he could stand Zim's torture longer than any other hyuman…still, it was unbelievable. He'd always believed that Dib's subhuman abilities were because of his extremely strong mind, but now…He took a hesitant step forward. Suddenly, Dib collapsed at his feet. Zim raced forward, but saw that he had only fallen to his knees. He was about to say something, until Zim noticed Dib's whole body was shaking. Leaning closer, he observed that the boy was crying. Hard. Tears were pouring through his hands, so Zim stepped back, not wanting to get wet.

"What's so wrong? I mean, at least you're near your own kind…" Dib's face snapped up, both scared and angry.

"_N-near my own kind? I don't…even have a kind…at least you have Gir and Minimoose…I have nothing, no one…one of a kind…" _Zim thought for a moment. _He's right…he used to at least have…have…no one, really._

"Dib, you've always been one of a kind. Alone. Name one thing alive that used to care for you." Dib sniffled, eyes widening as that sunk in. Zim sighed.

"But you're not totally alone…" Dib looked up, puzzled. Zim extended a hand towards him, grasping his wet hand and pulling him up. Dib could hear the skin sizzling under his glove, but the Irken didn't seem to notice.

"You have me." Dib was confused.

"Why are you being nice to me?" Zim shrugged.

"I decided that you're right. We are a lot alike, so why not stick together?" Dib sniffed again, smiling slightly.

"R-really?" Zim shuddered, then smiled back.

"Really. I mean, you said it yourself. Now, it's even more so…both outcasts, not even really knowing it, trying to fight for something that no one else cares about…" Zim shrugged. "Not to mention your choice of costume…" Dib blushed again.

"Now, wipe your face off. We need to get back to class." Dib nodded slowly, rubbing his face with the arm of his trench coat. After a bit, Zim grabbed his arm.

"The bell will ring in-"

BRRIINNG!

"-Now. Your face looks normal. Your head, however…" Dib sighed. _Some things never change…_

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><p>AN This is where the OOC comes into play, so forgive me that. Rate and review pretty please!


	8. Chapter 8

Dib felt vague déjà vu as Zim dragged him through the halls.

_Talk about role reversal…_He decided to let Zim drag him. He really didn't feel like walking, especially after all that crying. Thinking back on it, it was stupid to cry.

_It's not like it would help…it probably just made me look pathetic… _Suddenly, he felt a jolt. They had arrived. Zim let go, walking in first. He moved right to his seat, avoiding eye contact with Dib.

_He's never had a friend._ Dib realized. _Except for Gir, no one's ever shown any affection for him. This must be confusing. I mean, Keef is just creepy, and Gir's a moron, so…_Dib realized he was feeling actual remorse for the alien. He breezed past, giving the Irken a weak smile. Zim tried to return it, antenna perking slightly, but he was still in a sort of funk from the news of the previous evening, and what he had just learned. In all fairness, Dib knew he'd be the same, maybe even worse. When Miss. Bitters slithered in, Dib quickly took his seat, not having a good excuse. The teacher of Doom didn't even notice him, and started a lecture on Hitler. Dib didn't even bother taking notes, as he had long ago discovered he had an amazing memory. He'd never thought about why things from years ago were crystal clear, but maybe he had some kind of memory drive.

_Arrgh, this stinks. I'll see if I can get anything more out of dad…well, Membrane. I'm never going to call him dad again. Or maybe I can work with Zim to get more info. He's probably got something about my body compared to other humans from the times he captured me. _Satisfied now that he had a plan, Dib tried to pay attention, but the holocaust was just too depressing.

Brrring! It had seemed like weeks, but the final bell eventually rang. Dib stopped by Zim's desk again.

"Want to come over to my house? We never made it yesterday…" Zim shrugged.

"Fine, but I need to call Gir again. Meet me at the same place."

"Can Gaz come with us?"

"Only if she doesn't be annoying." Dib laughed.

"More like she doesn't be scary. She's going to be playing her Gameslave the whole. The only reason she needs to come is because Da-Membrane might not like her walking home alone two days in a row." Zim nodded, heading back to the science lab. Dib caught Gaz in the hallway.

"Gaz, is it-"She cut him off.

"I just joined the video game club, and need to defend my title as queen. Get out of the way." Dib shrugged. It was probably for the better.

A few minutes later, they were heading to Dib's house.

"Dib?" Dib turned.

"What?"

"Is it okay if I made you something? I needed something to get my mind off the transmission, and making you something for your smeet-day was the first thing I thought of. I'm having Gir drop it off in your room." Dib blushed-he hadn't expected Zim to remember.

"It's fine. Actually, it'd be my first real birthday present. Membrane never remembered, and Gaz either forgot or didn't care." Zim smiled.

"Then I'm honored." They walked up Dib's steps with a happy feeling. Dib was about to scan his hand when Zim stopped him.

"Mind if I try?" Dib shrugged-nothing would happen. His mouth dropped open when the door creaked open. Zim laughed at the bewildered look on Dib's face.

"I rewired your security system months ago. Don't worry, I never used it." Dib actually laughed.

"Good to know _somebody _can stop the great Membrane's security." They moved into the empty house, heading straight for the kitchen. Dib walked over to the fridge, pulling out a cherry poop.

"Want one? We've got chips too…" Zim shook his head, reaching back and popping a compartment on his Pak. He pulled out a soda and something that looked kind of like fun dip.

"I'm good. Besides, the soda's probably water based." Dib popped the tab and let the sugary cherry flavoring slide down his throat. Gaz usually took the soda, so this was fairly rare.

"Want to go to my room?" Zim looked nervous.

"That's probably a good idea…I told Gir to go back to the base, but he might not have." Dib's eyes widened, and he raced up the stairs, still holding his soda. He was relieved to see the room free of robots or green dogs, but spotted a dark blue box with the Irken symbol. It was wrapped with a black bow.

_Charming. Who would've thought my first real birthday gift come from Zim…_ He waited for said alien to appear in his doorframe before picking up the box. It wasn't tied very neatly, and Dib could see small tear marks here and there. He sat on his bed before gently undoing the ribbon so he could keep it. He felt excitement and anticipation, and took off the cover very slowly. What he saw amazed him for a moment, before it sunk in.

Zim looked even more worried.

"Do you like it?" Dib only gingerly picked up the piece of metal, which surprisingly was very light.

It was a Pak. The compartments were dark blue rather than pink, but there was no mistake. Dib was a bit confused.

"Remember last time? I went completely nuts!" Zim shook his head.

"I made this special. It'll react to your human DNA the way Paks should. I made it so you can take it off, no worrying about the 10 minutes. You always seemed fascinated with mine, the spider legs and such, so…" Zim gasped as Dib ran up and started hugging him.

"Thank you!" He stepped back for a moment. "You're sure this won't hurt me?" Zim nodded.

"There was one glitch, but I changed it to react only to particles of Irken DNA. You should be just fine. Just try it on!" Zim was more eager then Dib had expected-it was almost if he had been rewired. Shrugging, Dib set the Pak in place-and gasped as the metal dug into his spine. The pain was unbelievable, twisting his insides into a knot. The boy collapsed to the floor, holding his stomach.

"Zim…what did you do…?" Zim looked at Dib in shock.

"It was only supposed to dig in an inch or so, so you could take it off! I made no mistakes. It only would react like that if…" Zim trailed off, eyes widening. Dib used his bed to struggle up, but through his blurred vision he could see Zim's paling face. He walked forward as fast as he could; grabbing Zim's uniform by the collar and pulling him right up to his face.

"_If what?" _Zim stared back at Dib, a confused look on his face.

"If you had particles of Irken DNA…"

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><p>Woo, this should be interesting… Rate and review to find out what the hell is going on! And yes, Zim is hugely ooc here. My first IZ fic, probably should have gone for something more believable. Oh well. At least it's not Zadr.<p> 


	9. Chapter 9

A/N My family is going camping this weekend, and skool starts soon, so expect updates a lot slower. I will not forget the story, but the updates may be awhile. Alright!

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><p>Dib looked at Zim in horror. His vision was clearing, but his mind was in turmoil.<p>

"W-what? How is that…?" Zim's maroon eyes blurred as information flashed past them as he tried to find a solution. Finally, Zim shook his head.

"No, it's impossible…" Dib pulled him even closer. Their faces were inches from each other.

"What?" Zim gasped-Dib was starting to choke him. Dib quickly released Zim, then stared at him until Zim talked.

"There was a scouting mission for the empire…years and years ago. Earth was still unknown than. So, a typical Irken soldier in a voot cruiser left. We waited for years, but he never came back. We got only one transmission, saying something about Rose…no, Roswell. The rest was pretty much gibberish." Suddenly, Zim gasped, and started stroking his antennae.

"Wasn't Bitters talking about that? I wasn't paying attention, but…" Dib cut him off.

"I know about Roswell. Aliens landed, but the government denied it and locked them up for experimentation. They told the public that it was weather plane crash, but we believers know better. There were a few bodies, but not much was known about them. I always thought the experiments were…" Suddenly, Dib's face paled.

"For making stronger humans…" Zim turned to Dib.

"Is it possible?" Dib raced over to his laptop. When he sat down, the chair felt uncomfortable because of the Pak, but he tried to ignore it. He input 'Roswell aliens' in Google Images. Zim looked over his shoulder, worried. The load took a painstakingly long time, but finally some images popped up. The first few were of the ship, but there was one elaborately drawn alien. When Dib clicked the link, it led to a site where there were pages full of info in the results of experiments and detailed pictures.

"Jackpot…" Dib murmured. When he enlarged the picture, the resemblance was unmistakable. It was an Irken. The eyes were a darker red then Zim's, but the Pak was in place and the antenna were up.

"If Membrane made me with Irken DNA, why didn't he believe me about aliens? He knew…" Zim shrugged.

"Maybe he thought if he never encouraged it, you'd give up. He was probably worried you'd find out." Dib smacked his forehead.

"That must be why he did all of my doctor's appointments himself! He was worried they'd take a blood sample!" Zim looked at Dib.

"So, what now? Wait for Gaz-sister or Membrane to come home?" Dib shook his head.

"This is worse than just being made. I can't talk to Membrane now, and Gaz never cares where I am. So, want to go to your base?" Zim stiffened.

"Whenever you're over there…" Dib sighed.

"I've got no reason to expose you now that you're stuck here. I only wanted to stop you invading. Besides, we're on even ground now…I promise I won't take pictures or anything." Zim shrugged.

"Okay. Hey, don't you have that back alley behind your base?" Dib nodded.

"Want to try out the appendages?" The paranormal investigator smiled-it was something.

"Sure! I could be gone for a week and I doubt anyone would notice I was missing. But Membrane might be on the watch now…ah, who cares. Let's go." Dib jumped out the window into a tree, a burst of adrenalin suddenly in his system. Zim activated his spider legs, laughing as he raced down the stairs. He hadn't felt happy like this since the transmission. When Zim was out the door, Dib jumped onto the zip line that ran into his garage. Hooking his hair on, he leapt off the tree, sliding down. He jumped off the line at the last moment, but he had turned funny, so he started panicking as the ground came rushing up. Dib closed his eyes, preparing for impact. All, of a sudden, he was floating in midair.

_Am I dead? _He peeked through his hands, then let them fall to his sides. The spider legs had been activated, so he was about 5 feet up. Zim came around the corner, and was shocked to see Dib a foot away, at face height.

"You figured them out already?" Dib pointed to the zip line.

"More like instinct…they just saved me a good few weeks in the emergency room." Zim moved closer, stroking his hand over Dib's metal legs.

"Wow, yours are wired right into your brain. Mine take a second to react." Dib turned back, patting the Pak.

"Well, this was already useful…hey, I wonder if the ten minute limit applies." He concentrated, and the legs retracted, letting him fall the last few feet. When Dib landed on his feet, he reached back. Zim landed next to him, as curious as Dib was.

"Just warning you, it might-" Dib shushed him. _This is cool…but the ten minutes would stink. _He pried his hands under the metal, pushing it off. He suddenly felt woozy, like he'd been hit on his head with a bat. As his vision blacked, he saw Zim grabbing the blue Pak, leaning over him.

Dib woke suddenly, his back hurting like crazy.

"Oohh…what happened?" Zim held up the blue Pak. When he looked around, Dib saw a small purple clock on the edge of his vision.

"What's the clock for?" Zim sighed.

"I was afraid of that…it's a life clock. Looks like you've got the ten minute limit too. Just put the Pak back on." Zim held out the Pak, letting go when Dib grabbed it. When Dib slid it on to his back, the wires snaked back in, reattaching to his spine. Oddly, this time it didn't hurt nearly as much-just a slight tingle. Dib shook his head, trying to clear it.

"So, what now? I'm pretty good at the spider legs already it seems…" Zim shrugged.

"We can still go to the base. In fact, we probably should- Gir might have burned the place down or something." Dib knew that Zim wasn't joking-Gir had actually blown the base up twice in recent memory. He turned to the back alley behind his house, jumping into the air as the legs activated.

"Let's go."

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><p>Rate and review please! Okay, I'm going to stop saying it, but forgive ooc. Also, I don't own anything but my brain and my keyboard. Zim, Dib, Paks, and all that good stuff belong to Jhonen Vasquez.<p> 


	10. Chapter 10

Dib laughed-this was actually pretty fun. It was almost like he was flying, and he was going much faster then he could've ever run. It was no wonder Zim always caught him when he was on his spider legs.

"Hey, how long have you been…you know…not liked?" Zim' eyes widened, but he let out a dejected sigh.

"Probably since Zim was made, about 160 years ago. I mean, the Horrible Painful Overload Day happened only minutes after I was made, and everything just kind of went downhill from there. Everything I touch blows up-actually, it's a surprise I haven't destroyed Earth, just by accident. But there's no way to explain everything…" Suddenly, Dib turned around.

"I have a confession to make. You remember when you lost your Pak and it attached to me?" Zim nodded slowly.

"Well, a lot of your memories stuck. I remember a lot, so I had kind of already figured out that you were defective. I was just afraid that you would kill me if I said anything." Dib lowered his head, not sure what Zim would do. Suddenly, he heard the last thing he expected. Laughter. Crazy, insane laughter.

"Dib-hyuman…you think I didn't know? I just never wanted to admit to myself that I wasn't just favored by the Tallest! Somewhere in the back of my mind after the trial a few months ago I knew. I was officially ruled defective by the Control Brains, but when they were trying to erase me, the defective Pak led them to go insane. I only survived on pure luck." Dib smacked his head-that's why Zim was gone for a few days. He himself had been the one who'd lead the revolution to overthrow Gir. _So that's how Gir took over with that laser-Zim was gone. I'd better keep a closer eye on that robot._

As they rounded the corner, Dib saw the glowing green house had loud music coming out-from passing TV's on the street, Dib knew it was the theme to the Scary Monkey Show. _It's stupid…seriously, who wants to watch a dirty monkey staring at a camera for a half- hour? People like Gir, I guess... _Both dropped to the ground to avoid detection, and they passed a few neighbors, looking at both of them. Dib looked down-he and Zim were still wearing the same outfit, but the neighbors were staring more at Zim. Zim looked confused until he realized that he wasn't wearing his disguise.

"Ever heard of Halloween?" Dib said slowly. It took a few moments, but the light bulb went on and they turned back to their lawns.

Dib hesitated by the fence, nervous the gnomes would attack. Zim walked right through, then turned back to gesture with his finger to Dib. Dib laughed a little internally, wondering if Zim even knew it looked he flipped people off when he pointed. He walked forward slowly, sighing in relief when the gnomes didn't even turn to look at him.

"They're programmed to not attack those with Paks. It cuts down on vaporizing other Irkens who's come to visit." Dib shrugged-it made sense. He pushed the door open-Gir had left the base unlocked, as usual. His hair got blasted backward by the sudden noise-Gir must have somehow convinced the computer to double the usual maximum volume. Dib could almost feel his eardrums melting.

"GIR!" Zim and Dib screamed at the same time. By some miracle, the android actually heard them and turned to look. He was wearing his costume, but the head was down, like a hoodie.

"Aww, Dibby came to play!" Gir said as he muted the TV. He pointed his hand at the screen, preparing to turn it back on.

"NO!" Dib yelled as Zim made a loud noise-it sounded like he was speaking a foreign language, but much faster. Gir turned back to his master, his head hanging. Dib actually felt a bit sorry for the cute little robot.

"Imma sorry, Masta. I'm gonna play with Pig!" He said, perking up a bit before racing away. Dib turned to Zim.

"What was that? What did you say?" Zim rubbed his throat.

"I never realized how hard it is to speak Irken when your Pak is still programmed for English. I just told him how bad he was being, then gave him a threat about disassembling him again." He shrugged. "Do you want to make waffles?" Dib looked at Zim.

"Ummm, not really. Ever since I saw those mutant demon squids and you throwing up, I kind of lost any appetite for waffles." Zim pivoted on his boots, glaring at Dib.

"And how did you see that?" Dib started sweating-even at a truce Zim would be angry about a spy cam.

"Umm, a few months ago I told Gir to plant a spy cam in your house. He put in the kitchen…but it broke after your robots went on the rampage when you beat the squid. By the way, how would a plunger help?" Zim continued glaring at him until he realized that Dib hadn't seen anything of any use.

"The plunger let me take out their brains, Dib-hyuman. No more stupid questions."

"But why did you even have it?" Zim shrugged.

"Gir got it from somewhere. That's where I get half of my hyuman things." Zim headed to the trash can, pointing then at Dib, then the toilet. Dib groaned-it was still gross.

"All right…" He climbed in. Luckily, there was no water in it, but it was still disgusting. His heart jolted as the lid closed, enclosing him in darkness. He waited, but after a few seconds it reopened into the labs. Zim was drinking something from a bottle-Dib was shocked to see that it was water-but much cleaner than any water he'd seen. The water they normally drank was light blue, and sometimes glowed lightly-this water was completely clear, free of any toxins.

"How can you…?" Zim laughed at the surprised look on Dib's face.

"I'm only allergic to the toxins in the impure water you hyumans drink. Normal water is fine. This is purified." Zim hesitated for a moment, then muttered something under his breath, tapping his Pak. The computer dropped a bottle into Zim's hand. "Want some?" Dib shrugged, than nodded. _If it's purified, then it probably would taste better than normal water. _When Zim stepped forward, Dib concentrated and let one of the wires poke out from the Pak, wrapping it around Zim's hand. Zim instantly let go of the water, letting Dib pull it back. When Dib unscrewed the cap, Zim commented on his precision.

"Wow, you're better with your Pak in a few hours then some smeets are in the first few years. The Irken DNA must've come from a top rank soldier." Dib wasn't really listening-the water tasted amazing. It was free of the rough, metallic taste he'd gotten used to. It didn't even have a grainy texture-it was pure and clean.

"This is amazing!" Dib said, tucking the last bit into his Pak for later after re-screwing the cap on tightly. Zim held up his hand, pointing at Dib's Pak.

"That's probably not a good idea. If it spills, no telling what could happen." Dib blushed-he was still getting used to the idea that a piece of machinery was keeping him alive. He pulled it out again, draining the last bit.

"What should I do with it?" Zim held up his own water, letting a wire take it into the ceiling.

"The computer will recycle and reuse it." Dib felt a bit silly, but held his own bottle up. A thick gray wire snaked towards his arm, he tossed the bottle in the air, letting the wires catch it. Suddenly he got hit by cool metal-the computer had let Gir down.

"Hiya Dibby! You gonna play wit' pig and meee?" Dib tried to shake his head, but the insane robot only gripped tighter. Dib turned to Zim for help, but he was only laughing at Dib's predicament, one he'd found himself in many a time. Finally, Dib realized that he had a Pak. He let the thick wires slide out, prying Gir off of him.

"Go watch TV." Dib said firmly. Gir smiled, pulling a bag of popcorn from somewhere.

"Okeedokkee!" Gir replied, flouncing up the stairs. Dib turned to look back at Zim.

"He's pretty easy, space boy, when you know how to handle him. So, want to try playing video games?" Zim shrugged.

"Fine, Dib-hyuman. Zim will boot up the system." As Zim worked his Irken magic, Dib contemplated all that had happened that day.

_One thing's for sure-I'm probably never going to have a birthday this exciting for a long time…_

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><p>Rate and review, please! I only got a few reviews last time, please, if you read it, tell me what you think! I've enabled non-ff people the ability to review. Oh, and go ahead and vote on the poll on my profile. Thanks!<p> 


	11. Chapter 11

A/n -See if you can catch all the references to unaired episodes and the pilot in all of these chapters. I've slipped a few in already, and will add more.

Dib waited as patiently as he could, and soon Zim was done. He absently wondered what kind of games Zim would have. When Zim pulled up the screen, two floating chairs dropped from the ceiling. When Dib looked closer, he saw the game was called Pain Piggy. The console was dark pink, not unlike Zim's uniform, but when the screen turned on, the 3-D holo images were fairly low quality, like an old arcade game. A lighter pink controller popped out, with the words 'game over' flashing across the screen. Dib stepped forward as Zim pressed another few buttons, until another controller came out.

"You're the hyuman. I try to fight you off." Dib shrugged, grabbing the other controller.

"Game on, Space-boy." They played for a while; until the computer informed them Gir had stopped watching TV and was now dancing on the lawn. Without his disguise. Zim swore in Irken under his breath, yelling at the computer to activate the roboparents as he pulled an extra disguise on. Dib laughed, until Zim grabbed his trench coat clad arm tightly and used his spider legs while climbing the stairs, causing Dib to dangle freely behind him.

"Hey! Let me go!" Zim only let out a small smile, turning his face so Dib couldn't see. He pulled Dib closer, binding him to his Pak like he had the day before.

"Errgh-ZIM!" Dib growled, until he remembered his Pak. Grinning slyly, he submitted to Zim, letting him bind him closer, until he poked out the spider legs, snapping all of the cords. Dib fell, landing on both feet laughing until he heard something-screaming. Both from outside, which probably had something to do with Gir, and next to him. Looking down in horror, Dib saw that he'd accidentally skewered Zim's Pak, causing sparks to shook everywhere. Zim's face was twisted in pain, and the wig had half-slipped off.

_All the pain must be going directly to his spine, because he's still attached to the Pak! _Dib looked around frantically.

"Do I help Zim or go stop Gir? The roboparents fooled everybody on parent teacher night; I bet they can take care of any stray humans who notice. Still, it wouldn't hurt…COMPUTER!" The computer groaned.

_**Whaaaaat? **_

"Go send Minimoose out to bring Gir back in." The computer sighed.

"Fine. Now, how are you going to help Zim?" Dib paled.

"Can't you fix him?" The computer sighed again.

_**Nope. With his Pak that messed up, it needs very careful hands-my thick wires would only hurt him more. You're on your own.**_

Dib gulped, looking back down at Zim. His face had stilled a little, but his entire body was still spasming. Dib tried picking him up, but Zim only fell out of his arms. Gritting his teeth, Dib pulled the twitching Irken into a hug, holding him as close as he dared while still trying to keep him as far away as possible. Not an easy task. He pulled the wig off, letting the antennae free. Zim's eyes were closed, so it would be no use removing the contacts. He walked over to the table awkwardly, Zim still in his arms. He laid his rival down face forward, hoping-no, praying-that Zim didn't need to breathe too often. He tried to touch the Pak, but a stray spark bolted up his arm, shocking him. To make things worse, he heard a crazy giggling behind him.

"Dibba's hair all frizzy!" Dib automatically lifted his hand, running it through his hair-Gir was right. His hair was sticking up everywhere.

"Gir, can you go back upstairs?" Gir bounced forward, to Dib's horror.

"No! I wanna play! And so does piggy!" Gir held out yet another rubber pig.

"No. I can't play right now." Gir only moved forward, so Dib tried something stupid-he used the Pak to speak Irken.

"_Go upstairs. NOW!" _Gir slunk back, gripping piggy.

"Okay, okay, sheesh…" Dib barely noticed Gir leaving-he'd suddenly developed a splitting headache.

_I never realized how hard it is to speak Irken when your Pak is set for English._

"Well, that was a stupid idea…" Dib turned back to Zim. He'd settled, but Dib got a feeling that wasn't a good thing.

"Wait. Maybe I can plug my Pak into his, and try to use the healing function!" Now that he had a plan, Dib strode purposefully forward, letting one gray cord plug into what was left of the charging container of Zim's Pak. Zim flipped over, but suddenly, Dib was overwhelmed with extreme pain. As the circuit overload shocked his cells, he collapsed to the ground as Zim shot straight up, looking around.

"What's going on?" When he saw no one, he assumed it was the cause of all of his home/base troubles.

"GIR!" He hopped off the table, not even aware of how badly his Pak was damaged because Dib was unwillingly taking all the pain. Suddenly, Zim's knees buckled. His Pak still being repaired, so he didn't have full control of his limbs. He landed on something warm and-sparking? Zim scuttled back as far as he could, until he realized he could only move a few feet. Dib was twitching madly, mouth open in a silent scream. Sparks were dancing across his entire body. Zim edged a little closer, poking Dib slowly. It was then he noticed sparks coming also from behind him. The Irken swiveled his head, and gasped upon seeing how much damage his Pak had sustained.

"How…" He trailed off, looking back at Dib. The sparks had disappeared, but he was still twitching like he'd been plugged into an electrical socket. Zim knew that Dib was unconscious, or he'd be screaming bloody murder, but how could he take out the cord? Now that he was conscious, he could try to fix his own Pak himself, but Dib might be permanently defective if Zim didn't remove the cord RIGHT NOW. Taking a deep breath, Zim gently tugged at the wire, but it was deeply embedded in his Pak. He gulped before picking Dib up as best he could, gently tossing him up to a nearby table. He yelled at the computer to provide another table, to which it begrudgingly did. Zim crawled up slowly, making each move as best he could with his little limb use. Zim then pulled his own Pak off. Because it had happened before, (twice, in fact) he didn't pass out. Zim then asked the computer to sever the cord between the two Paks-it might hurt Dib a bit, but Zim could fix it later. Dib suddenly stopped moving as the cord was cut. Zim could feel his life clock ticking down, and got to work fixing the Pak. As he worked on his life source, he had a sudden thought.

_If someone told me I'd be doing this a week ago…I would've thought they were lying._

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><p>Rate, review, and vote on my poll. Thank you! My family's going camping this weekend, so I figured that I'd update this now.<p> 


	12. Chapter 12

I figured out how to count hits, and am happy! I can't believe this story has 2,210 hits! I don't have much to judge it against, but I'm sure that's good. Thank you so much, and continue to rate and review!

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><p>Dib was surrounded by pure pain. He was drowning in the electricity that was shocking his cells. Suddenly-it was gone. Dib could feel himself again, rather than the white hot torture. He would've sat up, but the paranormal investigator's body was still sore, and, more importantly, numb. He was able to crack his eyes open, so he saw Zim working on…it was too blurry to tell. Something. However, Dib could tell he was being very careful, as if…<p>

"No way." He whispered. "He's fixing himself?" Dib forced his aching arms to support his weight for a moment so he could get a better look. Zim evidently heard him, but didn't even turn around. He was wasting no time.

"Zim? What happened?" Zim didn't acknowledge Dib's question except with a shrug.

"Why was I passed put?" Zim still worked intently, but answered.

"You took all the pain when something happened to my Pak. You obviously didn't know the consequences." Dib gulped. His face paled.

"C-consequences?" Zim worked in silence for a moment more, before turning to Dib. The boy was worried to see the fear in the Irken's eyes.

"When you plugged yourself into my Pak, you accidentally activated the self preservation program. Now, we're going to share a mental bond. What kind, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it'll be strong." Dib looked down at his hands, blushing. The word 'connection' brought back painful memories.

"Well, I only have a few minutes left. Dib?" Dib lifted his head.

"What?" Zim sighed.

"When I plug the Pak back in, there's going to be a surge of pain to my amazing brain. You need to pull off my Pak so I can keep working on it. Don't hesitate." Dib nodded slowly. Zim took a deep breath, before lifting the pink Pak, letting it fall between his shoulder blades. The wires snaked back into the proper sockets, jolting Zim straight up. His eyes blurred with data before he screamed, loudly. Dib absently noted he still sounded like a girl when he screamed before leaping back. He could feel a faint tingling sensation, spreading all the way from his big head to the tips of his booted toes.

_I have to concentrate…_ He moved forward, reaching up to lock his fingers on the Pak, right where it joined with Zim. Brown eyes blazed with determination, as he yanked as hard as he could. The metal case flew off, sending Dib tumbling head over Pak as he tried to steady himself. Zim slumped over for a second before straightening up. He shook his head, eyes closed, before turning his head to look at Dib.

"All right, back to work. Give me the Pak." Dib tried to pry it off himself, but to his horror it took a long hard tug before it reluctantly came off his stomach. He rubbed his chest, but there were no marks.

"Weird… okay. Here you go." Dib was about to toss it, but instantly realized how stupid that would've been, so he walked back across the tiles before handing it back to Zim. The Irken grabbed it, turning back to his lab table. Dib tried to look over his shoulder, but Zim's arms were everywhere.

"Can I help? In any way?" Zim shook his head.

"Go distract Gir. If he came down now…besides, he seems to like 'Dibby'. Maybe he'll listen to you." Dib shrugged-it was better than nothing.

"Okay. Where are the-"Zim pointed behind him without even looking up. Dib headed to the elevator, hoping Gir didn't hold grudges.

…

"HIIII, COW!" Dib heard loud music as he opened the lid of the garbage can. When he trudged out of the kitchen, the first thing that caught his eye was ketchup. Everywhere. On the sofa, on the coffee table, even all over Gir. Speaking of whom…

"I hafta save cow!" Suddenly, the insane android caught eye of Dib.

"Dibby! You gotta help me save cow!" Dib stole a glance at the tv screen-it was a kid's show, not unlike Dora the Explorer, where the audience was supposed to 'help' the characters. Figures Gir would think it was real. He was probably even less smart then the show's target audience. Dib tried to maneuver around the ketchup to pick Gir up.

"No. Why don't we make…um…" Dib gagged, but knew he had to say it. "…Waffles?" Gir's face lit up.

"YEAH!" Dib clutched his ears, dropping Gir in a particularly thick pile of red stuff. He didn't blame Zim for some of his plans failing-who could concentrate when you lived with Gir?

"Okay, we can make waffles as soon as you clean up the ketchup. If you do…it'll save the cow! Um, and give him…the waffles we make!" Gir saluted, in duty mode for a split second.

"Yes sir!" Then he flashed back to normal. "Save the cow!" Dib let out a sigh of relief as Gir started racing around the room, mopping up some of the ketchup, and sucking other piles into his head.

_Wonder why that doesn't overload him…_

Minimoose floated up a few minutes later, and somehow could still hold the bucket without working hands, so the job was done quickly. Gir turned to the kitchen.

"Time for waffles!" Then, he purred under his breath. "I liiike to make waffles…" Dig suppressed a gag reflex as he followed Gir. As he searched for the waffle maker, he heard a whirring sound, coming from his right. Turning, he saw Zim emerging from the toilet, his Pak repaired.

"Well, that was fast." Dib commented. Zim walked forward, as if in a trance.

"Zim? You okay, bud?" Dib stopped-_Bud? Where did that come from?_ Zim just kept walking, until he jumped up onto the couch. When Dib looked closer, his eyes were a lighter pink, kind of glazed over. The maroon orbs were flashing with images-when Dib tried to see one, his stomach flip flopped. It was of when he was younger, when he'd just gotten his trike, moments before they knocked open the piñata down the hill. It was a mirror image, but Zim was seeing the real thing.

"What in the name of Irk is going on here?" Dib wondered aloud, then slapped both hands over his mouth.

_What in the name of Irk? Why did I say that? _When he looked down at Zim, something clicked.

"Oh no…"

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><p>Rate review, and vote on my poll please! Many thankies!<p> 


	13. Chapter 13

A/N Sorry about the late update. Skool started on Thursday, it's hard to get used to new teachers and new kids. I used my usual Zim tactic, blending in until I see potential friends…so, updates may come at random, and often longer, intervals because of homework and such. I just wanted to respond to one of the anonymous reviews. Dudeguy, this isn't my first fic. I have a 24 chapter Sonic story, this is just my first Invader Zim fic. Sorry for any confusion. Also, I feel that I don't really do Gir justice, but he's not really the main point of this story, so please forgive that. Gir's going to stay a bit…off because, no matter how well I may seem to know the characters, I only found out about the show about 3 and a half months ago... So, yea. Anyways, on with the story!

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><p>Dib stared at Zim in horror.<p>

"Oh, please tell me I'm wrong…" He started shaking Zim as hard as he could. Zim's eyes cleared instantly as instinct kicked in and he shot his fist forward, hitting Dib square in the chest. He flew a good 3 feet, before leaning against the tv to regain his balance. When Dib looked up, he saw was also clutching his stomach-well, squeedlyspooch.

"What happened?" Zim groaned. Dib rubbed his own chest, before looking up.

"We may have a problem. My point is proven by the way your clutching your organs right now. I'm the one who got hit-why would you be hurting?" Zim's eyes widened-he may be kind of slow, but there was no denying what Dib was saying.

"You mean…" Dib nodded slowly.

"The mind connection goes deeper than you thought." Curious, Dib raced outside. As usual, the neighbor lady was outside watering her long withered flowers with a hose.

"Hey, I'm warm. Spray me." She looked at Dib, confused, remembering him because he fell into her lap a long time ago. She simply shrugged and sprayed him. He opened his arms, letting the cool water flow over him. Nothing but wetness.

"Hmm, maybe I was-"Suddenly, a tingly feeling spread across his entire body, like pins and needles. It was a faint burn, but nothing to be really worried about. However, Dib took a deep breath-at this rate, things would be going downhill fast. He whipped around, racing back into the base, trench coat flying out behind him. Dib threw the door open, continuing on his momentum until he fell next to Zim on the couch. Zim instantly swatted him away, hissing with his tongue.

"What?" Dib suddenly remembered that he was coated in water. Zim's skin was already starting to sizzle, but surprisingly less than usual.

"Oh, sorry. I was trying to estimate something." Zim hissed one more time, then turned to look at Dib, a bit confused.

"Estimate what?" Dib took a deep breath before answering.

"Well, from what I can gather, the mind connection goes deeper, as I already said. Really, it's-"Zim's uncovered eye twitched.

"GET TO THE POINT!" Dib blushed-he knew he tended to ramble on-and cleared his throat.

"It seems our consciousnesses are slowly switching." Zim looked confused for a second, until his antennae shot straight up and his eyes widened.

"COMPUTER!" The lilac screen slid out of the ceiling.

_**Whaaat?**_

"Examine my Pak. See if there's anything wrong with it. NOW!" The computer sighed, muttering under its nonexistent breath.

_**There's **_**always**_** something wrong with it…the things' riddled with viruses. **_ Nonetheless, a thick purple cord snaked down, pulling Zim into the air when it attached to his Pak.

"Computer! Put me-"Zim slumped down. His antennae fell limp on his head as Dib watched, fascinated. Suddenly, the boy felt dizzy, and clamped his hands on the armrest of the couch, trying to see straight. The computer chuckled, responding to Dib's discomfort by giving a small explanation.

_**While Zim's Pak is being evaluated, I needed to knock him out. It seems it's affecting you as well. **_Dib took a deep breath, letting his tense arms sink into the soft fabric. A wave of drowsiness descended upon him, but Dib fought it off. After over a year of little sleep, most night hours spent gathering research, Dib was now able to work fine on only 3 or 4 hours of sleep. In fact, he'd drank so much coffee lately, sometimes he swore some of the stuff stayed in his bloodstream, helping keep him awake whenever he wanted to be. However, the arrival of Gir from outside the base started to complicate things.

"Hey Dibby! I was out gettin' tacos…the nice crazy taco man…" Dib sighed as he forced off another wave of fatigue.

"Gir, think you can just go make waffles or something?" Gir bolted up, shocked. His hood fell off, leaving him half pathetic green dog and half metallic robot.

"NOOO! I got tacos for me, masta and ya!" Dib groaned, until his head forced itself up as he remembered the horrible bologna accident all those months ago.

_Meat…_

"Um, Gir? Maybe that's not the greatest id-mmmh!" Dib was cut off as Gir shoved a taco into his mouth. It tasted all right, but what Dib was worried about was the burning sensation. It felt like the time Gaz had dumped an entire bottle of Tabasco and 2 chili peppers in his mouth after he borrowed her stuffed pig for an experiment.

"AAAAAH!" He frantically fanned his mouth, steam coming out. He looked at the greasy bag Gir had-The Crazy Taco. However, the bag was still steaming slightly. Dib spat out the taco, letting Gir grab-and eat-it while he reached for the sack.

"Hmm, it's still warm, but not hot enough to cause that much of a reaction." Dib looked up. "Um, computer? You done with Zim?" His question was answered as Zim was lowered onto the couch. His magenta eyes suddenly bolted open. His mouth opened…

"Whazz'goinon? I AM ZIM! I don't get what's happing to me! Why do I feel like a smeet? My limbs feel like juice! Gir, did you do something? I hope you didn't! The burritos are bad, the monkey's crazy, cheerleaders suck-"Dib looked at Zim, confusion running wild across his face.

"All right, what's wrong with him NOW?" The computer responded in a monotone.

_**His Pak's just running a check on his mouth. He's not even really awake yet. **_Zim's eyes cleared, as if on a cue.

"My amazing cranium requires painkillers…why hasn't the Pak supplied them?" Dib sighed, crossing the living room and placing a hand next to Zim before plopping down next to him on the couch.

"That's probably not such a great idea. I might pass out on top of you, and I'm still soaked." Zim looked at Dib with disgust.

"What are you talking about, Dib hyuman?"

""Don't tell me you already forgot!" Zim closed his eyes for a moment before nodding slowly.

"I remember, Dib sti- Dib. But what can we do?" Dib shrugged.

"We should use either Membrane's labs or your lower base to try finding a cure. Yours will be more useful, being more used to Paks. Oh, and the rough estimate I was able to gather, the final change will take about a week, give or take a few days. I haven't had much to work with." As Zim moved to go towards the kitchen, Dib had one last comment as he forced Gir back with his right hand.

"Good thing it's fall break now…"

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><p>And, as usual, I end with a cliffie. I love cliffhangers, as you can tell…so, rate review, and vote if you haven't yet! I own nothing, blah blah blah. Oh, and you might have to wait for the update. As I said, Skool is here, and I plan to uphold my straight A's. So, till next time…Shadowdib out!<p> 


	14. Chapter 14

"I wanna make waffles!" The insane robot bounced up and down under Dib's fist. The boy sighed, lifting his fist, hoping Gir's metal wasn't too hard.

"Shut up or I hit you." Dib glanced toward the kitchen-Zim was already down the toilet.

"Okee-dokke! Hit me!" Dib sighed again, wondering why Zim hadn't been exposed already by Gir.

_Oh yea, every almost human is a total idiot._

He brought his fist down as hard as he could, letting it sink into the fabric-like metal. Gir only smiled, until Dib's hand hit his AI chip. The little android went down like a sack of bricks, letting Dib have a chance to escape to the trash can.

"Finally…he was getting on my nerves." Dib shrugged as the garbage can lowered. His Pak suddenly heated up, making him start sweating.

_Wow, it suddenly got hot in here. Zim needs to change the temp controls. _He adjusted his glasses for a moment, until he realized when the pale purple light filtered into the elevator that his vision was blurred rather than clearing. He rubbed his glasses, but-nothing. Puzzled, Dib pulled off his 'ocular lenses' to wipe them on his shirt again-but to his surprise, his vision instantly cleared. He concentrated on the screen on the other side of the room, not even noticing Zim underneath it. His vision zoomed in, like camera lenses.

"Hey, I can see!" Zim's rough cackle cut through his words.

"Must be automatic ocular implants. Irkens get them at birth-yours must come with your Pak." Dib ran over to Zim, eager to start finding the cure, but tripped over his trench coat in his haste, sending the poor experiment boy sliding across the tile. Zim only laughed, some of the old rivalry shining through.

""Shut up, space boy." Dib muttered under his breath. His body was still as hot as a sauna, and as Dib struggled towards the Irken, Zim took note of the sweat-like substance coating Dib's body.

"What's the problem _now?_" Dib tried to shake off the uncomfortable burning feeling, but it stayed, stubborn as the sun.

"N-nothing…" Zim shook his head, frustrated.

"You need to tell me what's wrong, Dib hyuman. It affects me too, remember?" Dib sighed deeply, knowing Zim had him there.

"Well, I feel really hot, but I figured that was just the temp control in the base. You don't feel hot?" Zim shook his head slowly, worried.

"No, the AC is on." He took a cautious step forward, pulling a single glove off as his hand leaned forward to feel Dib's forehead. His instantly snapped his hand away, which was steaming slightly.

"Your sweat must still have a small bit of water. But, more importantly, you're burning up. COMPUTER! Evaluate Dib's Pak!" Without complaining for once, a large wire pulled out of the shadowy ceiling to attach to the main compartment of the Pak. Dib was feeling hotter every second, as if he was being burned alive from the inside out, but didn't want to show any weakness in front of Zim. The boy gritted his teeth tightly, not letting any noise slip out. The computer responded in a monotone.

"Glucose levels, normal. Heartbeat, faster than normal. Brain activity-"

"Just show me a chart!" Zim shouted, not wanting to wait for the necessary information. When a screen projected in front of him, his face started to pale.

"Holy mother of Irk…" Dib tried to twist around, but the wire was still embedded in his Pak.

"What? What is it?" Zim unhooked the wire, letting Dib free to see his own chart. The boy's face would have paled as well, had his skin color not already been drained by the heat. The faint pulsing glow of a certain statistic left them both unable to speak.

_Temperature- 110 degrees. _Dib unconsciously fell to his knees. His eyes started blurring with tears, stinging slightly, but he was too choked up to notice.

_How am I even still alive? The Pak! It must be keeping …me…alive…_ His thoughts were starting to blur together. The heat was so intense, like a flame had erupted in his heart and was spreading to the rest of his body. The heat was the worst in his chest, near the back, by his spine.

"Zim…you can fix it…right?" Zim tore his gaze from the lilac screen, and his pained maroon eyes scared Dib.

"It's a Pak virus. I'll try to delete it, but…" Dib heart sped up, before dropping into his boots.

"T-try?" Zim gulped nervously, trying to smile weakly.

"Computer tried to hide it from me, but I have viruses too. I've never been able delete them, so I just deal. You're probably so vulnerable because you have little Irken DNA, so you're organic body can't fight the virus off, like most Irkens can. C'mon." Zim pulled his glove back on, before motioning to Dib to follow him. To his credit, Dib did try to stand up, but his body didn't respond the way he would've wanted. His knees buckled, and his head dropped to the cool tile. It was a moment of slight relief, before the flames erupted again, worse than before. It was too much-Dib let loose with a crazy scream, sounding like a small wounded animal. He didn't care Zim was in the room. Heck, he wouldn't have cared if _Gaz_ was there. Just let… the… fire… stop!

Zim whipped around when he heard Dib cry-and raced back as fast as he could. Dib was curled up in the fetal position, scythe hair dropping lower every second. The sweat was pouring like a water fall now, and his eyes were slowly sliding shut.

"NO! Stay awake Dib-stink! Or…" Zim yawned, his mouth opening as wide as it went.

_No! Irkens don't sleep! I have to save Dib! _He flung the human over his shoulder, running as fast as he could for the table before he phased out of consciousness. He slapped Dib down, opening the back compartment of the Pak. An angry red spark was flying over everything, almost too fast for Zim's eyes to catch. The Irken's own eyelids were starting to droop.

_No! Stay focused! _He gulped, not wanting to use an energy boost from his Pak in fear of waking Dib up. If the boy woke now, a wave of pain beyond pain would flood his body, sending him into shock. Zim wormed his hand into Dib's Pak; he suddenly felt a wave of heat flood across his hand, winding up towards his chest.

"NO! COMPUTER! TERMINATE THIS…SPARK!" The computer chuckled, aiming a stun ray at Zim. The last thing Zim saw before getting blasted backwards was the small red light on the end of the weapon, aiming for his chest. He felt the spark evaporate, and smiled slightly before sinking into oblivion.

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><p>AN: Woo, that was pretty good. I'm writing this a/n at 1:34 am, and I have tae kwon do testing today. I'm an idiot. Oh well…rate, review, and vote please! Hope you enjoyed! And by the way...it'll still be a while between updates. CURSE YOU, SKOOL! This one was done quicker because I had a few hours during the Packer game.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N This is where the story starts moving over into the 'really weird.' But, all will eventually be explained, so hang in there!

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><p>Random colors and images blurred past his vision. His eyes were stinging, but that was nothing, compared to the fire searing his bones, mutilating his skin while leaving not a mark. His heart was speeding into overtime, and every muscle felt like it had a thousand pound weight attached. His entire body was numb, so when the fire vanished, the soreness settling in helped him not even notice.<p>

"Urrrgh."Dib groaned, trying to roll over in bed, balling up his fists-and falling to the tile.

"What the irk?" _Another weird phrase. "_What happened?" The computer screen still floating next to him with his former statistics answered his question, letting him remember the past few minutes.

"Um, Zim? Where are you?" He scanned the lab, still getting used to his ocular implants as they zoomed in and out, making the search more through. After a minute, he saw a green and pink blur on the opposite wall. Zooming in, Dib saw it was Zim. He was bleeding faint green blood, right around his heart-that is, where his heart would've been.

"ZIM!" Dib jumped off the table, still a bit sore from how hard Zim had slapped him down, and still kind of warm. However, it was a much more comfortable warmth-the normal Irken temperature, 100 degrees in earth measurement. Not willing to test his spider legs again so quickly after the virus, Dib only pulled off his trench coat as he raced across the tile so he wouldn't trip on it again. He skidded on the tile, feet sliding crazily and pale arms flailing wildly as he neared Zim, trying to slow down before he crashed into the unconscious irken. Suddenly, Dib had an insane idea.

_I could try jumping._

Happy with his new plan, Dib took a deep breath and leaped as high as he could, grabbing a shelf 15 feet up and swing himself up onto it.

"Okay, now how do I get down? My reflexes are good, but not _that_ good! I could try jumping again…" Dib shrugged, then stood up, stepping off the platform. When his feet hit the air, he concentrated on not hitting the ground with anything other than his feet, and visions of wind, feathers, and other such light things helped him-stay afloat?

"What the…" He thought about touching the ceiling, and his body obeyed. Dib floated up, getting faster until his palm was pressed against the tangle of cords.

"This is awesome!" All thoughts of Zim forgotten, Dib started zooming around the lab. Gir (clad in costume) wandered in, having somehow fixed his AI chip-not that it was that important to him anyway. While zooming Pig around like a voot cruiser, he spotted Dib floating in a sitting position.

"Dibbeh! I didn't know ya could fly like me!" Gir activated his rocket boosters, shooting up next to Dib.

"I didn't either. Must've been another upgrade from Membrane. Man, it would've been soooo useful in the past…I wonder why all of these new powers are showing up now? "He petted Gir, tickling under his chin. As the 'dog' purred in enjoyment, suddenly what happened to Zim shot across his brain.

"I can't believe I forgot!" Dib turned his face down, falling like a missile before scooping Zim up and shooting back up.

"How can I help him?" Dib puzzled out loud. The blood wasn't spreading very fast, and there wasn't much of it.

"How is he even bleeding in the first place anyways? And why is the wound so small?" Dib heard a throat clearing, so turned his face to the big screen Zim usually used to contact the tallest.

"All right Computer, what happened?" Another sigh.

"He asked me to get rid of the spark-like virus after he extracted it from you. So, I got rid of it-shot it using a stun gun. He'll be fine. Zim just happened to be holding it while he told me to destroy it immediately. It would have infected him if I hadn't shot him." Dib nodded in acknowledgement of the explanation, then lowered enough to set Zim down on the metallic table. He wiped some of the blood off, using a clean handkerchief in his pocket. Dib felt hungry all of a sudden, and remembered the last time he'd eaten was that morning, and it was probably pretty late by now-but he was totally ravenous, much hungrier than usual.

"My stomach hurts…got any food?" Gir's face lit up.

"TACOS!" Remembering the earlier incident, Dib shook his head.

"Nothing with meat. What else can you make?" Gir held up his hand as if counting on his nonexistent fingers.

"Waffles, slushies, pancakes, and-"Dib cut him off.

"Pancakes or slushies is fine." A loud growl from his stomach under his hand caused him to look down at his pale blue shirt. The normally straight pale face was now almost a frown.

"Better make that pancakes _and _slushies." Dib walked over to the elevator, with Gir bouncing at his heels.

"Zim'll be fine. He just needs to rest." He stepped into the elevator, with Gir holding his hand while the doors slid shut, enveloping them both in blackness for a moment before the bright lights of the kitchen shocked his newly sharp eyes. Gir danced out into the neon painted room, pulling out a tiny apron and flying up to the top cabinet to grab the flour.

"Oh, you make pancakes from scratch?" Gir plunged his arms into the flour, picking up a pile and dumping it into a bowl.

"Apparently you don't use a recipe either…" Dib wanted to help, but Gir was moving so fast he could barely keep track.

"I'll get whatever you need from the top shelves, okay?" Gir laughed loudly, then yelled,

"MILK!" Dib floated up into the air.

"I'll take that as a yes." He knew that there wasn't much useful in the fridge, so he headed up to the topmost shelf.

"Zim must keep the base cold enough for this stuff…" When he spotted the milk, Dib noted it was in a frosted container. "Huh. I was wrong. Got it!"

…

The next 10 minutes went smoothly, exception of the time Gir tried to put soap in the pancakes. By now, Dib was beyond starving.

"Hmm, maybe these new powers gave me a higher metabolism." He floated into the chair Zim had been in during the waffle incident.

"I just hope this goes more peacefully than that time…" Gir flounced in, holding the tray above his head.

"Pancakes are readyyyy!" He jumped up, plopping the plate in front of Dib before grabbing a single slushie and heading to the living room.

"Mmmm, they small great." Dib grabbed his fork and dug in-they were wonderful!

"Either I'm going crazy, or the dog makes the best pancakes known to man…I'm leaning for the second option."

As Dib stuffed his face, Zim stirred down in the real base.

"Irk, that hurts…" He rubbed his chest, and was startled to find it slightly damp. Still semi conscious, he yelled the first name that came to mind. The one hyuman who had always been the one to hurt him, in their pathetic cat fights.

"DIB-STINK!"

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><p>AN Geez, that was long-btw, all of these chapters are at least 3 full pages on Word, so please no complaining how short they are. Thanks. So, hope you enjoyed, and Rate and Review! Or I send Nny after you! (And if you haven't voted on my poll, do it now-I'm announcing the results next chapter. I see a lead, but only by 2 votes, so it could change!)


	16. Chapter 16

A/N I checked the stats-this story has surpassed Negative Sonic in favs, alerts, and is pretty close in hits! Yay! That's pretty darn impressive, considering that story is 24 chapters… Oh, and 14 alerts, but only two or three reviews each chapter? Why? Please tell me if you like it! It warms my squeedlyspooch…plus, motivates me to get the chapters out faster. Review!

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><p>Dib was smiling as he downed his fourteenth pancake. 12 empty slushie cups were spread across the table, but Gir had helped with that.<p>

"Man, I was really hungry. Usually, I can only eat about 5 or 6, even when I'm starving." He swallowed one last bite, leaning back in his chair to pat his stomach. From far below him, he heard a faint call.

"Zim must be awake…Gir, stay up here. Watch Minimoose." Out of the corner of his mouth, he asked Minimoose to keep an eye on Gir before heading down the toilet. He noted it seemed almost normal, routine to him now.

"Weird…it's almost like I've adapted to it. Amazing what you can get used to." Dib shrugged, his Pak shifting up on his back. When the elevator opened, the first thing he saw was Zim, standing RIGHT in front of the elevator, about to get in.

"DIB!" Dib shifted back to the opposite wall of the elevator, feeling uncomfortable with his Pak, and a bit like a trapped animal as Zim advanced.

"What did I do?" Zim whipped off his over shirt, pointing to the green blood staining it.

"WHAT IS THIS? WHAT DID YOU DO?" Dib straightened up, pointing at the ceiling.

"Ask your computer. I had nothing to do with it." Zim looked up, still steaming.

"COMPUTER!"

_**I shot you becau-**_

"WHY DID YOU SHOOT ZIIIIIM?"

_**I was GETTING to that. You removed the virus from Dib-hyuman's Pak, and it was about to infect you. I saved your Pak. **_

"Oh." Zim turned to Dib, pulling his shirt back on.

"And where were you?" Dib shrugged.

"I got hungry, so I made some pancakes and slushies with Gir. I was watching him, so there were no weird ingredients. He made a ton, so if you want some…" Zim imitated Dib, shrugging.

"Sure." When the elevator opened, Gir was running upside down on the ceiling.

"HIYA MASTA'! HIYA DIBBY! WANNA PLAY?" Dib shrugged.

"Sure." He turned to Zim. "Should I get him down?" Zim just laughed.

"Good luck with _that_." Dib felt a grin creep across his face as he hatched an idea.

"How about we make a bet? If I can get Gir down, you have to eat as many waffles as Gir wants. If I can't, I'll do it." Zim chuckled, holding out his hand for a shake, believing it to be an easy win.

"Deal." Dib shook it, marveling at how soft yet sturdy the fabric seemed before jumping into the air. He turned around to Zim's shocked face before laughing out loud as he flew up to hold out his hand to the green dog.

"C'mon Gir. I think you're going to be making a lot of waffles."

"WAFFFFFLLLLESSS!" Gir dropped into Dib's arms, letting out his cute little giggle as Dib touched down, holding out Gir for the stunned Zim to grab.

"We had a deal, Space boy. I'll get the flour…" Zim's skin paled, to almost white. He could take a _few_ waffles… but he'd counted last time. Before Zim had cut Gir off, he'd forced to eat almost fifty… he'd been sick for 3 days afterward.

"Curse you Dib-hyuman. I hate you." Dib looked Zim straight in the eyes, grinning widely.

"I know. I know."

…

3 hours later, Zim was laying on the couch moaning. It'd taken that long before Dib felt enough pity to get Zim out of the kitchen. Dib had suddenly realized that Gir could somehow duplicate the ingredients, and would keep making waffles until he was stopped. He shuddered at what would have happened to him if he had lost the bet, considering he was already sort of full from the earlier food. Dib started gingerly rubbing Zim's shoulders.

"Feeling any better?" The concerned statement only earned him a death glare, before Zim rolled over on the couch, his back to Dib.

"Geez, I didn't think you'd actually do it."

"Z-Zim backs down from no challenge." Dib noticed something-Zim seemed a little bit thicker than usual. Dib pulled his hand away slowly, looking closer at Zim. There was no mistake-Zim had actually gained weight.

"Geez, how many waffles did you eat? You never gain weight! Except for that one time you ate everybody's organs…" Zim moaned again, rubbing his antennae slowly.

"My Pak usually regulates my weight…that's why most Irkens are slim. You forced me to eat too much-my sqeedlyspooch couldn't handle it and expanded." He groaned again, before his eyes shot open.

"BRING ME THE BUCKET!" Dib was confused for a second, until he remembered Zim throwing up before. Panicked, Dib raced around the room while Zim grew paler and paler. Dib almost picked up the trash can twice, but remembered its elevator qualities just in time. Just before Zim gave up, Dib raced back in with the trash from the unused bathroom just as Zim threw up, luckily into the bucket. Dib winced at the loud splattering noise. When Zim resurfaced, his face was white.

"B-bring me down to the lab. I need some water." Dib pulled Zim into his arms, feeling a bit awkward as he stepped into the toilet. Zim was heavier now by about five or ten pounds, and almost looked normal, as opposed to the stick he usually was. When the elevator reopened, Dib carried Zim over to the table, picking up his trench coat and laying it on top of the steel before setting Zim down.

"Computer? Give me a water bottle for Zim." A small pedestal with the water popped out of the computer console, and Dib hurriedly walked over and grabbed it, unscrewing the lid. He helped Zim sit up, then handed him the bottle.

"Bring me to the sink; I need to wash my mouth out first." Dib nodded, picking Zim up again. He asked directions a few times, letting Zim guide him until they reached some type of medical bay. Zim stepped down, walking with wobbly steps until he reached the sink. Dib handed him the water, letting Zim take little sips, swishing it around before spitting them out. After a bit, Dib worked up the courage to speak.

"Sorry… but you know, you actually look a bit more like the other kids now. You're the smallest kid in our grade. You replaced me, you know…except for my hair, I'm pretty short and fairly skinny…" Zim grinned a little.

"You were the smallest earth child? I'll have to remember that…" Dib sighed.

"Just in our grade." Zim downed the last of the water, then turned to the screen.

"We need to concentrate on finding a cure for our problem. No more getting off track." Dib absently glanced down at his watch, before suddenly remembering.

"One last distraction…I need to all home, tell them I'll be staying here. Membrane might think that I ran away or something." Zim shrugged, turning his back to Dib.

"Make it fast."

Dib walked outside, closing the door behind him. The faint purple glow would help convince Gaz where he was.

"Gaz? Gaz? Gaz, pick up!" He heard his sister-well, not really his sister anymore- sigh loudly.

"What is it, Dib?" He put on a grin-he still felt a bit nauseous from seeing Zim toss his cookies.

"I'm going to stay with Zim for the week." Gaz raised an eyebrow.

"Two things. One, you will never be able to stand each other that long, but not my problem. Two, Dad told me to keep an eye on you. Don't kill yourself, or I'll get in trouble." Dib sighed, responding with his first sentence extremely sarcastic.

"I'll try to stay alive. You'll have the house to yourself mostly. I might come back for supplies, but-"All of a sudden, he was speaking to static.

"Man, you think she'd treat me with _some _respect.._._ oh well. I'm ready, Zim!" Dib called as he opened the door again. Zim had turned around, and was just sitting on his hover chair, waiting. Dib walked across the creamy white room, plunking himself down in another chair.

"Soooooo… what now?" Zim shrugged.

"Now, we tell each other what we can remember of the other's lives. It's a start…" Dib shook his head.

"That'll only be useful for you. I already knew a lot from the Pak incident." Zim shrugged.

"All right. Let me think…" He closed his eyes, and leaned back, propping up his legs while crossing them.

"You were born on Halloween, October 31 in 2143. Your father has used you for many experiments, including one-"He looked up, opening his eyes while obviously trying to suppress laughter.

"Including one where you had to wear a purple skirt and a sleeveless lacy salmon shirt to skool." Dib started blushing crazily.

"Gaz only had to wear a football jersey. And she got to wear her dress over it. But, you're not one to talk." Zim's eyes narrowed.

"Meaning?" Dib pointed at Zim's uniform.

"You look like you're wearing a dress everyday!" Zim fingered his uniform.

"They usually look like shirts, but this was the smallest size available and I couldn't alter it. Moving on…You never gained any popularity, always babbling about one paranormal incident or another. Your only friend was when you were five, and he eventually moved on, until…" Zim was a bit surprised by the memory.

"I showed up. Recently, you considered me a friend." Dib shrugged.

"I thought you knew. That was just recently. What else do you remember?"

"Just bits and pieces." Dib leaned closer.

"Let me see if I can prompt any."

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><p>AN Wow, this one is long. I like the challenge of writing with a bit more detail-I'll probably keep this up. Oh, and the winner of the imaginary 2012 presidential election is…*drum roll* ZIM! Bow down, pitiful worm babies!


	17. Chapter 17

A/N I've noticed nobody really mentions Bad Bad Rubber Piggy in ff, probably because it's a huge time paradox and raises a lot of questions. I changed that. Oh, and this chapter involves blood, forewarning you. I decided to switch the rating to 'T'. (As always, I own nothing!)

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><p>Dib leaned back in his chair.<p>

"Hmmm….okay…rubber piggies!" Zim flinched, then started laughing. Dib was puzzled.

"That was an awful memory! I almost lost my arm tumbing down that hill! Why are you laughing?" Zim was clutching his gut, trying not to fall over.

"B-because I was the one that made it!" Shocked, Dib sprung forward, grabbing Zim by his chest and yanking him forward.

"_What do you mean!" _Zim stopped laughing instantly, realizing Dib was serious.

"Um…nothing?" Dib started shaking Zim, not even sure why he was doing it, but he was just royally ticked off.

"Get _off_ me, Dib-worm, and then maybe I'll tell you!" Dib slumped back, his mind clearing.

_Why did I do that? I'll figure it out later._

"Spill it, Space boy." Zim sighed, then pulled out a rubber piggy from his Pak. Upon closer inspection, Dib saw that it had once had writing, but it had gotten too blurred to tell. All he could see was a big Z.

"What is that? And what did it say?" Zim shrugged.

"You tell me. See if you can remember." Dib closed his eyes, concentrating. Suddenly, he felt his hand moving, but it was clutching a pencil with only three fingers, including his thumb. Shaking off the feeling of uneasiness upon intruding on Zim's memories, he took note of what was being written.

**Dear Zim, don't use the time machine. Love, Zim. **Dib chuckled to himself at the corniness, and absently wondered why Zim was writing so fast. He had no memory of that particular incident, and was shocked to see a huge blue and silver robot crashing through Zim's wall.

_What the heck is __**that**__? _He felt Zim looking closer, and mentally jolted back when his vision reached the cockpit.

It was him.

Or at least, some kind of twisted, sickly version of him, riding the robot as if he'd used it all his life. Dib tried to bring himself back to the present, but was too shocked to properly concentrate. Past Dib advanced, holding up an arm, as if to smash Zim. As Dib's mind raced, he suddenly realized that he could hear what Zim was thinking.

_How did this go so wrong? It should have been easy…kill the Dib-monkey by messing up his past. Why is he suddenly so strong? _As Zim lifted his arm to throw the pig, one last frantic thought raced across his mind as he let the pig fly. _This MUST work, or Zim's amazing mind will splatter all over the walls…_

_That's it, I'm out of here! _Dib concentrated as well as he could, and felt himself slip away as the blue arm hurtled toward Zim.

"Ahhhh!" Dib jolted up. Feeling around, he saw he was on the cold floor, so the boy pushed himself up.

"What happened?" Zim inquired, settling back into his chair. Dib's mind was still a bit fuzzy, so he didn't answer until he too sat down.

"Well, I tried to remember what you were talking about, but I was suddenly IN the memory. By the way…how do I not remember me being that sickly? And how did you escape?" Zim shrugged.

"It was a time paradox. I only remember parts of it myself. I actually need to keep the pig in my Pak, or I won't remember anything at all. It replaced my brain until Computer fixed it, long story." Zim shrugged, then turned back to the screen.

"That should be enough information. Computer, calculate time span until the switch is complete."

_**Processing…PROSESSING! **_Dib chuckled at how intense the computer sounded.

_**Processing complete. Results? **_

"YES!" Both boys screamed at the same time.

_**Estimated time frame-3 days.**_ Dib paled.

_Only 3 days? How was I that far off? Maybe it was wishful thinking on my subconscious's part… _Dib turned, and saw Zim, rather than looking scared, only looked more determined.

"We'll have to go without sleep then. Straight through." Dib coughed loudly, getting Zim's attention.

"What _now_?" Dib looked at Zim, chocolate eyes almost closed as they looked pointedly at the floor.

"I can't go without sleep. You might be able to, but I'm already tired from today and we haven't even done anything in the way of finding the cure yet. I'll be no good half-asleep, or if I pass out. Is there some kind of energy boost or something in my Pak I can use?" Zim glared at Dib.

"Are you saying your puny hyuman body needs constant rest? Pathetic. You could use the Pak energy generators, but you'll probably regret it later." Dib gulped.

"Regret it? Why?" Zim shrugged.

"Side effects. It's different for everyone. They can vary from something as little as your eyes feel heavy to you passing out days-even weeks-later for a few hours. I usually just use something else, like recharging extra long so I don't need boosts." Dib lifted his pointer finger to his mouth, as if telling Zim 'shush', but his eyes revealed him in deep thought as he cocked his head and looked to the ceiling.

"Well, I can go without sleep longer than most humans…but still, there's no way I can make it 3 days. Actually, I probably will only make it about another 15 or 16 hours if I really try." Suddenly, his hand shot off his mouth and into the air.

"I think I've got it! Do you have anything with a lot of sugar or caffeine?" Zim nodded.

"Both me and Gir practically run on sugar. Just go up to the purple cabinet. But Dib-"Ignoring the rest of Zim's warning, Dib flew out of the room, both figuratively and literally. Zim cursed under his breath and followed the experiment as he climbed into the elevator. Zim almost screamed as the elevator closed right on his nonexistent nose.

"STUPID HYUMAN!" Zim jumped into the elevator shaft, drilling a hole through using a laser on the end of his Pak legs. When a bright white light shone through the hole, he jumped in, the legs folding up into two thick metal rods jutting out of the left and right of his Pak before a teal bubble surrounded him, blooming out of the former metallic legs.

"Stupid, stupid hyuman experiment…" He saw a huge burst of energy spill out of the shaft before the Irken fell out of the wall. Luckily, the trash can opened just as he stood up, and Dib hopped out. He didn't notice Zim, and lifted into the air, heading straight for the lavender cabinet.

"DIB! NO!" Dib turned his head around as his finger brushed the cabinet. All of a sudden, electrical sparks danced across the kitchen as Dib's entire body was severely electrocuted. The boy didn't even have time to scream before he dropped down to the floor, unconscious- or worse. Zim raced up to Dib, picking up the boy and starting to shake him.

"WAKE UP!" Zim could hear that the breathing was extremely faint, as was the heartbeat. Dib's mouth lolled open and his arms and legs were extremely limp. More sparks danced across his Pak, and Zim could see the violet life clock on the boy's wrist.

"You idiot...I rigged that cabinet because of Gir raiding it too often. It only knocks him out for a bit, and there's a DNA sample so I can get to it."

Zim picked Dib up, and suddenly collapsed to the floor as another memory shot through his mind.

_**Intruder alert.**__ Dib looked around-the voice sounded like it was coming from the ceiling. Suddenly, he was knocked onto his butt by a chunk of metal, kissing his face._

"_Hiiii Dibby! You gonna play with me and Masta? I dressed Minimoose for ya!" Dib tried to shake Gir off, but he'd clamped one hand to his head, the other waving crazily. Dib held Zim up._

"_Gir, how can I get into Zim's lower labs?" Gir grinned._

"_Through the potty!" Dib groaned- he's wondered why Zim was in the kitchen so much-and why the toilet was._

"_Anywhere else?" Gir taped his eyes, flashing red for a millisecond before answering._

"_The trash can, Sir!" Dib shifted Zim over, noting how the flashing was getting slower._

"_Better hurry then…"_

Zim groaned, pushing himself off of the cold tile.

"Curse Dib and his memories…" The Irken glanced around, and noticed that he'd dropped Dib pretty hard when the memory had come. A maroon substance was spreading around his oversized head. When Zim leaned closer and poked a finger into the pile to figure out what it was, his entire hand suddenly felt like it was in a fire, and began spreading across his entire body. The fire grew fainter instantly, but left him with a massive headache.

"What was _that?_" As Zim looked at Dib in horror, he realized that he'd felt his pain for a moment.

"I didn't realize I'd dropped him that hard." Shrugging, Zim picked up Dib-and was shocked to realize he couldn't hear a heartbeat anymore.

"_Dib?" _Zim whipped around, jumping back into the wall and flying through the inner base as fast as he could to reach the medical bay.

_Please let him be okay, please let him be okay… _Zim ran across the room, letting the computer turn on the lights of the dusty room as he tried to find his way around without bumping into something.

"COMPUTER! BRING ZIM LIFE SUPPORT MACHINES!" He could feel the computer doing a scan.

"It's too late Zim. He's dead. We can try restarting his heart, but…"

"BRING ZIM THE HEART RESTARTER! NOW!" A small ping pong paddle looking device dropped into his hands. Zim pressed it to Dib's chest, then slammed down the red button.

BRAZAAP!

Nothing.

Zim tried again, tears starting to run down his cheeks.

Nothing. Zim pulled Dib's cold body closer, then let his head fall onto Dib's chest as the tears started really flowing.

_All that time…you're finally gone…why aren't I happy? Wasn't this what I used to want? But I'm smarter now. Goodbye, nemesis, pain...friend._

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><p>AN Rereading it, this chapter is pretty depressing. But, I won't end this story with a character death. (It won't even stay a character death, but you'll have to wait for my explanation for that) So, please rate and review. Oh, and I have another poll. R&R, or Dib's ghost will haunt you! I want a few reviews before I continue.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N Yes, this story has taken a depressing turn, but will get better! I promise. Just read on.

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><p>Zim did one thing he'd promised himself to never do-cry. As the tears spilled across Dib's lifeless chest, he suddenly felt warmer-not like hot, but as if he was being hugged by someone who cared about him. Before Dib had for the gift, he'd never been hugged (except for that one time Keef forced him to, but that didn't count)-it felt nice, like he'd been praised. Zim's wet face suddenly jolted up as he felt that he wasn't alone.<p>

"W-who's there?" His thoughts were whirling as he tried to figure out who it was.

"G-Gir?" No, this feeling was a bit darker. Smarter. More determined to live.

"_D-Dib?_" A cold breeze rippled past Zim, brushing across his chest.

"I-Is that you?"

_Yes, it's me. _Zim's hands flew up to his head-it felt like Dib was inside his head!

_Relax, Zim. I'm right here. _Zim closed his eyes slowly.

_Dib? Are you inside my head?_ He heard the former hyuman sigh.

_Kind of. I'm everywhere. Just fall asleep and I can really talk to you._

_You're insane, Dib hyuman. I always liked that about you…_

Zim yawned, and stretched his arms.

"Irkens don't sleep…but I can go into slumber mode. Computer, begin recharging my Pak. Usual procedure." A thick chord dove into his Pak as his eyelids drooped shut…

…

Everything was a brilliant white. Zim blinked, shading his eyes with his arm.

"Hello? Dib?" He tried to step forward, but his feet seemed cemented in place.

"DIB! GET ME OUT OF-"Zim's mouth suddenly snapped shut. He had no idea why, it just closed on its own. A deep chuckle surrounded the Irken, slowly focusing onto one point. When Zim squinted, he could see a black scythe lock slowly getting closer. While Dib took his merry time, Zim was forced to do what he absolutely hated-be patient. After what seemed like an eternity, Dib finally got close enough for Zim to make out his face.

"So, Zim. What do we do now?" Zim felt his jaw loosen.

"DIB! WHAT ON IRK IS GOIN-"His mouth slid shut again, and Dib laughed loudly. While Zim glared, he noticed that his rival's usual black trench coat, pants, and boots had been replaced with duplicates as white as the setting they were in. His shirt was creamy beige, and instead of the straight face there was a pair of wings. His chocolate eyes were the same, except his trademark circular glasses were gone. He was even wearing white gloves.

"I control everything here. Wherever here is... watch." He snapped his fingers, and they both floated off the ground. Dib smiled before a pair of white peregrine falcon wings sprouted from his back. After a few test flaps, Dib shot into the air at a speed Zim couldn't even try to calculate. He did a few loops before shooting down like a missile, pulling out of the dive just seconds before hitting the astonished Zim. He slowly expanded the wings to their full size before landing.

"I'm not sure where this is, but it's not heaven. I know that. Well, at least I hope not. Because, no matter how cool this is, it's going to eventually get boring. I want you to help me, Zim. Bring me back to life." Zim's face was frozen solid in pure shock. Dib sighed.

"I can't slap you, or I might kill you. Wake up, Zim. This is real, I'm real. So are you. That's all you need to know." Zim slowly pulled himself out of his stunned state.

"How? Your Pak is sure to have been fried." Dib sighed again, as if Zim was a small child he had to explain something to.

"But my essence is still alive. Besides, my Pak somehow switched into survival mode, and is stuck at 3 minutes and 13 seconds. I want to ask you to let me share your mind until we can find a way to fix my body." Zim shivered.

"No way!" Dib gave a truly evil grin.

"I could kill you right now. I wouldn't even have to try. Keep you from your body forever. But, I'm not that cruel. All I ask is that you help me until we can find a way, together, to repair me."

Zim shuddered.

_Imagine sharing a body with Dib!_

"I can hear you, you know. Will it be really that bad? I mean, I'll leave if you want to be alone. I can just come back here for a while. Just call me when you're ready. So, will you do it?" Dib extended one hand, palm open. Zim shuddered again, then slowly reached for the white glove. Dib floated the last few feet, and grabbed Zim's glove. As Zim blacked out, the last thing he heard was Dib's triumphant laugh.

The first thing Zim noticed was how cold his Pak suddenly felt. It was like all those years ago, when he'd just been brought to life. However, Zim sensed that, unlike that time, he wasn't alone. A smug chuckle started out in the corner of his mind, then slowly expanded until he couldn't think of anything else.

"SHUT UP!" Zim screamed. He felt the laughing stop instantly.

_Sorry. You just have no idea how good it feels to exist again. So, shall we get started? _Before Zim could answer, his left leg jerked forward, followed by his right. His entire body was being steered across the lab, with him having absolutely no control.

"Knock it off, Dib. Its bad enough I have to share my amazing mind, but I get body control. End of discussion."

_Fine… _He stopped moving instantly, and Zim let out a big sigh before continuing to the screen.

"Okay, as much as I hate to admit it, your father might-"

_NO WAY!_

"Get over it. He knows more about how you work than anyone. Besides, it's not like he'll even know you're there."

_Give it 2 days. Then I'll consider it._

"Dib…"

_What would you say if I asked you to go ask you're tallest for help?_

"Hmm. Maybe you have a point. Okay, 2 days." Zim walked over to the computer.

"COMPUTER! We have another problem. Bring me the Dib-hyuman's body."

_**You can't bring him back to life. It's useless. Get over him and move on.**_

_Let me talk to it. I want to freak that arrogant auto brain out._

_Okay…but as soon as I say the word, I get control back._

_Deal._

"Hey, computer!" Dib's voice was coming out of Zim's mouth, and the computer was confused.

_**I didn't know you could do ventriloquism. **_

"He can't. It's Dib, wire-brain." Dib didn't get quite the desired effect-the computer just laughed.

_**You're more persistent then I gave you credit for.**_ As the computer spoke those words, Minimoose floated in, with a costumed Gir close behind.

"Squeak. Squeak squeak."

"What's that? Gir brought in a girl from-WHAT?" Zim had absently repeated Minimoose's news until it caught traction with his mind.

"GIR!" Gir was grinning happily, then pulled out a picture of a girl around 13 from his head.

"I brought you a friend! She's upstairs, watchin' tee-vee!" Zim growled, pulling on a pair of contact lenses and a wig.

"Gir, you are never to bring someone home from one of your dances again. Got it?" Gir shrugged, then activated the jets in his feet.

"Good boy, Gir. Now go count backwards to 1 from 40,000 and don't come up until you're done." Gir dropped to the floor, and started counting.

"40,000, 39,998, no….39,999-" Zim didn't bother to listen to the rest, and climbed into an elevator he rarely used-one that opened to an actual door. When he caught sight of the visitor, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her. Besides her jeans and light blue tee, the girl was wearing dark glasses, and holding a cane. She'd either been found on the street or sitting out at the rave, because this girl was blind. Her ponytail flew behind her as she turned her head towards the noise. She waved her hand sheepishly.

"Hi…" The girl started. "Your little brother brought me here from the street, saying that he was lost. I wanted to show him his way back, but got lost on the way… he seemed innocent enough, but now I can't find my way home. Can you help me?" Zim took a step forward, pulling off his contacts for the moment. No need for them. The wig needed to stay on, though, Dib reminded him.

_I'll take this. I know more about this kind of thing._

"Sure…" Dib's voice replied. The girl straightened up instantly, glasses a bit awry. Zim could see her squinting a bit, but she couldn't see him, right?

"Dib? Is that you? Boy, you've changed." Her tone made it obvious she was playing cool, even though she sounded both confused and faintly angry. Dib slapped a hand over Zim's mouth, suddenly remembering the girl.

"Mira? Is that _you_?" She smiled, opening her mouth wide to show dark blue braces.

"It's been awhile… last time I saw you, you mentioned something about an alien and I almost never saw you again." She muttered something under her breath that neither boy caught.

_Dib, explain. NOW. _Dib coughed, internally blushing.

_Well, she used to be another friend. I hadn't thought about her in a long time, so that might be why you didn't remember her. I met her at a library listening to a book on tape while I was researching phantoms when I was 7. She shared some of my paranormal interests, especially ghosts, so let me talk or Mira might get suspicious. If she hears another voice and no one steps forward…_

Dib cleared the shared throat. "Mira, I'm at a friend's house, taking care of their dog-he's a really smart dog. Actually, Zim, my friend, put in a voice chip-that's why he's can talk. It's not his little brother, it's his dog. Confusing, huh?" Mira narrowed her cloudy blue eyes.

"That wasn't fur. That was fabric. Oddly smooth fabric, except for big seams. What are you trying to hide?" Dib gulped-he'd forgotten although Mira was blind, she was extremely observant.

"Um…" Mira leaped forward, pulling Zim up by his shirt. Zim decided to speak up.

"Wow, you have great aim, even though you're bli-"She whipped off the glasses, baby-blue eyes glowing furiously.

"The doctor fixed me. I can see fairly well now, I just need the old cane because I broke my leg a while ago. The only thing they couldn't fix was how my eyes looked. These are just sunglasses, _and you're not Dib._"

"Technology on this planet is advanced enough to fix blindness? Who fixed you?" Zim had taken back over completely, shoving the dazed Dib back to the corner of his mind. She didn't let go; only tightening her grip.

"He wore a long white lab coat that I could feel went up past his chin. I never saw him after the operation, and he didn't like me touching him that much. His name was….oh yea. Membrane." Dib gasped.

_No way. NO WAY!_

"Arrgh! Shut up, Dib!" Zim tried to pull himself out of the angry girl's grip, and dug his gloved claws into his head, tilting the wig just the slightest bit. Her eyes widened, and Mira slowly reached for his head. Zim started screaming, and almost collapsed as Dib tried to rein himself in. Meanwhile, Mira's fingers curled around the fake hair, and she whipped it off. However, unlike Dib had first reacted upon seeing Zim, she wasn't eager to figure out what he really was.

"Okay alien, ghost, whatever, out with it! _What have you done with Dib?_" Zim backed up slowly, completely back in control, and started whipping his head around frantically.

"Hey, Dib? Any help you can muster would be great right about now!" Suddenly, another cool breeze blew past his face, rustling his antennae and blowing Mira's ponytail around. He saw a faint outline of the old Dib-with his trench coat and no wings. He slowly moved around to the back of Mira, and Zim saw a slight smoke rise from behind Mira. She looked angry for about another half a second, before her pupil's baby-blue color slowly expanded to fill her entire eyes. She slowly stepped back, looking kind of confused…

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><p>AN Annnnd I leave you on a really bad cliffhanger! I just wanted this chapter over with, or it would have gone on forever. Too much happened anyways, but oh well. Next chapter will explain everything. Mira is a bit of a rip off of my name, not that you would care. I wanted other interaction besides Gir, and I'd always wanted to give Dib a friend. (Note-I just started rewatching Danny Phantom. I might work some aspects in, considering Dib's now pretty much a ghost…heh heh heh… As always, rate review, and vote on the newest poll! And forgive my lateness of this chapter!

PS: As I wrote the words 'Bring me back to life' the song 'Bring Me to Life' by Evanescence (one of my favorite songs) came on my playlist. Epic timing. And 'Time of Dying' came next. Cool, huh? And if anyone wants to draw 'Angel Dib' and send me the link, I'll give you tons of waffles! And endless love!

Icy Heat did! *hugs* Here's the link, just take out the spaces. http: / /insanlycrazy .com /art/Angel-Dib-260209274


	19. Chapter 19

Mira snapped her hands close to her sides, then let them dangle, as she closed her eyes for a moment, really pushing them shut.

"Get… out… of… ME!" All of a sudden, her eyes flew open, still the eerie lighter blue. She took a hesitant step forward, lifting one hand to her chest.

"Did it work? Am I…" Zim nodded slowly. Her voice sounded roughly the same as before, but lower.

"You did it. Getting out now might be a good idea though. She's going to be _really_ angry." Mira/Dib shrugged.

"You need to prepare yourself, but I think I have a plan. On three…two…" Zim held up his fists in a futile attempt to protect himself from something that would likely resemble one of Gaz's nightmare worlds.

"One." A blue wisp floated out of Mira's back, letting her slump over for a second before she straightened up, her eyes full of fire.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Zim flinched-she was almost as loud as him. He closed his eyes to try to block out the inevitable coming pain.

"IF I EVER-_what_?" At the shocked tone of the girl who had, just seconds ago, been furious, Zim squinted his eyes open, then stepped back in shock as he took in the scene. He could dimly see Mira, her mouth hanging wide open, through Dib. He looked almost completely normal, except he was paler then snow and Zim could see hazy images though him, distorted as if looking at a reflection in water.

"Dib…?" He took a step forward, raising his glove, but instantly snapped it back when Mira glared at him.

"Y-you're a ghost? But that means…" Zim slowly maneuvered around Dib to stand in front of Dib just as the boy smiled.

"Dead? Not quite… but close. Actually, it's thanks to Zim over there that I'm even here." Dib floated back over to Zim, and laid a hand on his shoulder. Zim shivered, and when he looked down, he could see the fabric through Dibs' hand.

"But…he's…he must be the alien you mentioned! I thought you wanted to kill him…" Dib sighed, then floated over to Mira. Zim noticed that his legs had melted together to make an odd wispy shape, like a wavy triangle.

"You know more about ghosts then anyone. You know I was always best at aliens, and I want your help. Is there any way you can put me back in my body?" Her eyes widened even more, before she pulled out a small light green ray gun resembling a squirt gun from her front faded jean pocket. She aimed it straight at Dib, who had brought his legs back somehow, and was now floating about an inch off the floor with his arms crossed across his chest.

"Where's your body?" He shrugged.

""Downstairs, by the-AHHHH!" Mira pressed the trigger, shooting a green blob straight at Dib. He tried to jump up, but, being still unused to his new form, he got hit right in the chest. Emerald sparks danced across his entire body, as Mira blew steam off the barrel before tucking it back into her pocket. Zim stared at her in horror for a moment before grabbing the girl by her shirt and slamming her into the couch, landing almost on top of her, like a lion on an antelope.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" She struggled against Zim, finally kicking up against his chest, causing him to bend over as she slipped out to the side.

"I was _helping _him, you moron. My own invention, the ectoplasmic blaster helps solidify ectoplasm-that's ghost matter- for a specific amount of time. I had it set for two days so I could physically beat up some ghosts that tried to ambush me while setting up my uncle's haunted house last week." Zim turned his head back to Dib slowly, and let out a huge sigh of relief to see that he'd stopped twitching. He was still deathly pale, but he wasn't sinking into the carpet. Much.

"So he'll be okay?" She let out an exaggerated sigh.

"I only used that so he can help us fix him. It'll go faster. Besides, you two switching voices was kind of weird. Oh yea, you never explained. Why was he, um, in your head in the first place?" Zim took a deep breath-this might take a while…

A half hour later, Mira had the whole story, from Dib being an experiment to his 'rebirth'. She also had an empty bag of tacos, courtesy of Gir. She looked from Zim, to Dib, then back to Zim.

"So, we should probably try to wake him up. Time limit, you know." Zim shrugged.

"Fine. You do it." She moved over, then shook his shoulder slowly. Zim grinned when he saw her hand didn't sink through him, except about half a centimeter.

"C'mon Dib, wake up. Wake up now. You've got work to do." Dib groaned, slowly moving one hand up to his forehead.

"Man, I feel like the living dead… oh. Wait." He cracked his eyes open, and Zim had to work not to gasp as the glowing red pupils stared at him.

"Zim? What happened? And…" He looked up, and started sinking into the carpeting.

"Mira! What did you do?" She pulled him up, letting his trench coat billow out around him as his body pushed out of the rug. He was surrounded by a faint emerald glow and was still pale, but otherwise looked mostly normal. Other then the fact Zim could still dimly see the counter through his chest.

"Hmm…I feel kind of faint and lightheaded. Like I haven't eaten in days. But I had all that food earlier…" Zim pointed at Dib's chest.

"I take it you forgot about your ghost problem?" Dib smacked his face with his palm.

"Oh yea. Duh. But, what now?" Zim stepped forward.

"I would say go down to the lab, but…" He glanced pointedly at Mira. She glared back, crossing her arms and started tapping her foot.

"Oh, come on. It's like I'm going to take pictures. I'm not _Dib._" She noticed the aforementioned boy glaring at her. "No offense meant." He sighed.

"None taken, its fine. Zim, she's right. You can trust her." The irken sighed, stepping into the hole in the wall he'd forgotten to ask the house to fix from when he'd been trying to save Dib from the electrocution. Hopefully this went better. He turned around to tell Mira one last thing.

"Just step into the toilet. Or the trash can, Dib can use the toilet." Mira looked toward the toilet and cringed.

"Do I have to?" Zim chuckled.

"There's not even any water." She sighed, then headed towards the trash can.

"Still not using it. How do I turn this thing-YAAH!" The trash can dropped, much too fast, with her in it. Zim felt his sqeedlyspooch lurch. What if she hit the lab full speed? Dib looked horrified at Zim for half a second before diving headfirst though the floor as Zim turned back to the inside of the walls and raced through the base as quickly as he could. When he finally reached the lab, the Irken let out a big breath when he saw Dib holding Mira, while still floating an inch above the tile. His back was to Zim, and the alien saw that he still had his Pak. Zim practically glowed with pride, knowing full well Dib could have gotten rid of the Pak if he had so chosen.

"Are you okay?" Dib turned to Zim, fear in his blood red eyes.

"She's fine, but me…" To prove his point, Dib started sinking quickly through the floor again. Zim race toward him, shoving a confused Mira out of the way as he grabbed Dib's hand before that too sank out of sight. With an almighty heave, the Irken planted his feet into the tile and managed to pull Dib up. The ghost clutched his head as he tried to stay upright.

"It's getting worse. I can't keep this up much longer." Zim was confused-how hard could it be? Dib set a cool hand on his friend's shoulder, running a finger along the top of the Pak.

"There's no way I can keep this 'ghost 'thing up for more than a day. After that… well, it won't even be worth saving my body. Give it to Gaz, and tell her to hide it from Membrane. Explain to her about me, but lie and say that Membrane is her father. He should tell her himself. We have probably 20, maybe 24 hours before I'm gone for good. My mind is strong, but still can't keep it up much longer. We need to hurry." Zim looked at Dib in horror.

"You're just GIVING UP?" Dib moved his hands down to his ears, and Mira copied-she heard better than most due to her former blindness and years of having to rely on other senses.

"Geez, Zim. Not yet! I just didn't want you to have false hope. It's probably only-"Zim pressed his palm to Dib's mouth, careful to not push it through.

"We _will _get you back to normal. Or I'll take off my Pak and join you." Dib gasped, pushing Zim's midnight glove away.

"No. If I die, I die alone. You'll join me soon enough, right?" Zim shook his head slowly, antennae drooping.

"Irkens live much longer then hyumans. I thought you knew that. I'm a hundred and fifty six in earth years." Dib blinked, then suddenly remembered, smacking his forehead with his palm.

"Oh yea. I forgot. How do long do Irkens usually live?" Zim tapped his Pak once before responding.

"Around 300 years, but considering how many accidents I have, it'll probably be closer to 250." Dib groaned.

"Well, the sooner we get started, the more likely we'll succeed." Dib floated over to the panel.

"I'm ready. How should we start?" Zim thought for a second, before shrugging.

"First, see if you can get reacquainted with your old body. COMPUTER! BRING ME DIB'S BODY!" A few seconds later, Dib's limp body was dropped carelessly in front of Zim and Mira. She shuddered, before noticing his unusual clothing choice.

"Why is he wearing your costume? Were you two supposed to be twins or something?" Both boys instantly blushed, but, seeing as Dib was kind of tricky to see anyway and was in the shadows, Mira turned to Zim.

"Well? And why is it a pink dress?" Zim instantly snapped at her, embarrassed she'd noticed.

"IT'S NOT A DRESS! IT'S A UNIFORM!" She winced.

"No need to get so defensive." Dib floated back into the light, setting himself in between his friends.

"It's my fault. I wanted to tick Zim off-we'd just had one of our usual catfights, and I was kind of venting. I figured mimicking him would be a blow to his gigantic ego-um, no offense." Zim was glaring at Dib, but sighed and reluctantly let it go. Mira just shrugged.

"We can worry about that later. Now, see if you can overshadow your body the way you did with me." Dib whipped around, trench coat faintly whistling.

"You actually remember me doing it? I thought that victims usually forgot-"All of a sudden, the girl busted out laughing. It was a ringing sound, not quite high and not quite low, like church bells.

"Dib, I forgot how naive you were. While you're the crazy ufo kid," Dib winced at hearing the cruel nickname almost everyone in town knew him by, "I'm the ghost girl, remember? I've been researching ghosts as long as you've been obsessed with aliens. I've been overshadowed by ghosts who try to stop me so many times I've lost count. I actually lost my eyesight to one of them-I had only been blind for a few months before you met me." Dib stared admiringly at her, before Zim broke into the sudden silence.

"We should start now. The clock is ticking." Both humans (well, one human and one ghost) turned to look at him, and responded at the same time.

"All right. Let's get started."

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><p>AN My internet got screwed up, that's why this took so long to post. And because of stupid skool. I think last chapter was one of the more exciting chapters, and only got 1 review? If you read it, review, or I feel like nobody really cares and will just leave it where it is. Anyways, rate, review, vote and overall enjoy!


	20. Chapter 20

A/N I'm soooo sorry! I hope you can forgive me. I've had a heck of a time, between acting in a play, homework starting to get really tough, not to mention having to rewrite like half of this chapter because I had to switch to my parent's computer. My computer went out about 2 weeks ago, and I have to share this one with my parents, so I haven't had much time to write. All updates will come faster than this as soon as the Word on my computer gets fixed. I know this section can't make up for the long wait, but try to enjoy the chapter anyway! (And not naming names, but in one of my new favorite stories, the author couldn't update for a whole 2 years. I'm just glad I'm not _that_ busy!)

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><p>Dib floated over to his body, leaning above his own chest. He looked back, not sure what to do.<p>

"So, do I just try to overshadow my body?" Mira and Zim shrugged in unison. Dib took that as a cue to go ahead. He turned himself upside down, then held his arms out like Superman as he dove into his chest. Zim raced forward and started shaking Dib's shoulders.

"Did it work? Did it work?" He jolted back when Dib's eyes flew open. The former chocolate pupils were gone, and a sapphire glow filled his entire whites.

"Ugh… I don't think it worked." Dib's voice sounded like an echo from far away, and Zim was shocked to realize that, for the first time, he actually sounded dead.

"Why not?" Mira stepped forward, setting a hand on his shoulder. When Dib lifted a hand to push her away, he looked like a marionette operated by a clumsy puppeteer.

"Well, for starters, listen to my voice. Plus, I feel more like I'm in a costume that doesn't fit rather than my natural body." He walked over to the middle of the room awkwardly, pulling his trench coat on again. All of a sudden, his eyes glowed brighter, before they dimmed back to the way they had been before. Dib turned around, not sure what to say, and started fidgeting with his fingers.

"I… have an idea." Mira stepped closer.

"What?" Dib sighed, and when he turned back, Zim and Mira could see the eyes were dimming further, as if in fear.

"You're not going to like it." It wasn't a question.

"Of course we will! You're already pretty much dead, what could be worse?" Zim was trying to reason with the boy, but Dib only sighed again.

"I'll need a severe electrical boost to restart my Pak and reunite my ghost self with my body. In other words, I need to electrocute myself again." Zim lunged forward, pulling Dib's shirt up and his head to the alien's face.

"NO. WAY." Dib's body seemed to melt through Zim's fingers, and he landed back on his feet.

"I warned you that you wouldn't like it. But really, what choice do we have? If we fail, well… who would've wanted my body anyway? Gaz? I wouldn't want Membrane experimenting on my remains.'" Zim pulled him back towards him, before slapping the ghost harshly across the face.

"You're always crazy, but that's completely insane!" Dib pried his fingers under Zim's glove (somewhat clumsily) and pushed himself off.

"Besides, I probably was born through electricity. It seems fitting that I should die that way too. That is, if it doesn't work." Mira piped in, having her say.

"It's around a fifty-fifty chance. I've seen other ghosts try it, and it worked for one of them." Zim whipped his head around.

"And the other?" She shrugged.

"His ghost half was unharmed, at least. He'd been shaken, but his mind was still mostly all right." Zim turned around to continue arguing with Dib, but the boy was gone. When Zim frantically scanned the room, he suddenly spotted the bottom of the elevator before it disappeared.

"DIB-HYUMAN!" Zim raced towards the hole, in an attempt to prevent Dib from being electrocuted. Again. Mira raced after him, then latched on to his back-and his Pak-as the bubble blossomed out.

"GET OFF!" She only clung on tighter.

"He took the elevator already. Just go." Not wanting to waste precious seconds arguing, Zim resigned himself to her and tried to ignore the uncomfortable weight. He raced through the walls, and every motion seemed to be in slow motion as the déjà-vu set in.

"Hurry!"

"SHUT UP! I'M GOING AS FAST AS I-NO!" Dib was up at the cabinet already, and his palm was extended towards the flat lavender surface. Zim tumbled out of the wall, and shoved Mira off of him. Dib's hand was reaching closer… Zim flew up, his spider legs shooting him up, the momentum firing him as if from a cannon. Everything seemed to click into slow motion as Dib's finger was a mere centimeter from the cupboard before he seemed to reconsider, then spread his whole hand out again for more of an effect on his body. Zim wasn't even an inch behind, and latched his gloves around Dib's hips.

Dib whipped his head around, breaking the spell. His eyes widened when he saw the alien. He tried to drop out of the air, not wanting to hurt his friend, but the edge of his hand brushed the dreaded cabinet, and his whole body started severely shaking. Zim tried to drop off, but all of his muscles had frozen up in shock, both mental and electrical. Mira shielded her eyes, looking down from the horrifying scene. The entire kitchen was flooded with supernatural light, an off shade of turquoise that she could see through her closed eyelids. The two screams melded together, and Mira could tell one was higherthen the other, which sounded a little lower, and the vibrations rang through the kitchen like a gong. After 7 seconds, which seemed like an eternity, she cracked her eyes open, fearing the worst.

"Dib?" Mira murmured, taking a hesitant step forward. "Did it work?" She sorted through the small chunks of something that felt like plaster from the ceiling until she could hear breathing-long, deep breathing. Encouraged, she finally found her friend-he was even conscious, through only barely. She instantly placed a hand to his forehead, and breathed a huge sigh of relief when the temperature was more or less normal-if a tiny bit cold. He opened his eyes painstakingly slowly…

"_Did _it work?" She grinned. Alive? Check. Sarcastic? Check. Eyes the normal chocolate brown? Check. She gripped his sleeves, pulling him up. His trench coat flowed out, and he tried to smile weakly back at her, but it was obvious he was exhausted. As she tried to lead him back down to the lab, the boy's eyes widened in shock.

"Zim. Where is he?" She shrugged, then she bolted her head up.

"I only heard _you_ breathing. I thought…" Dib shoved past her, shifting through the plaster. Suddenly, Mira realized he wasn't there-she would have already found him. Scanning the room, her heart skipped a beat when she spotted a smear of green and crimson in the corner leading to the living room, next to the toaster.

"He's over there!" Dib's head whipped around, and he shot back up into the air. Before, she'd been too panicked to notice, but it just now hit Mira-_How can he fly? _She decided to ask him later, but Zim needed help now. She ran over, and her heart dropped into her sneakers when she picked him up-there was no heartbeat. She could feel a faint vibration, but it was way too slow.

"I… I can't feel a heartbeat." She whispered. Dib's face dropped, until he picked up the alien himself. A grin spread across his face as he pulled him closer, running a palm across the ruined and burned over shirt. Mira was shocked-_why is he happy? _Dib turned to Mira, and answered her unasked question.

"He doesn't have a heart… I mean, not literally. He's got one massive organ that does everything, and it seems to still be working okay." Suddenly, Dib's features were blanketed with shock.

"Where's his Pak?" He flipped Zim over, and Mira saw two metal holes that had sparks shooting out of them. When Dib spun around, she noticed the backpack he had- it looked a lot like the one Zim used to have on.

"You mean that thing was important?"

"Well, if you count staying alive as important, then yes!" She saw a circular metal thing with the same markings as Dib's, but in pink in the opposite corner.

"Found it!" She darted over and held up the Pak, and Dib tried to run over, but he was starting to stumble-he needed rest, and soon. When Dib saw the Pak, all of his muscles froze up. He moved as if through molasses to take the precious piece of machinery from Mira's hands and turn it slowly around to expose the sparking wires and the burnt smell. They both glanced back at Zim, lying almost peacefully, and Dib noticed, for the first time, a small purple watch on his left wrist. Dib held the Pak closer, then shuffled across the kitchen. He dropped it carefully, then picked up his friend. He held up the left wrist, then announced aloud in an expressionless voice how long the irken had left.

"8 minutes and 3 seconds." Mira could only watch as her old friend finally collapsed, the stress and exhaustion finally crushing him with the pressure. She stood blinking stupidly for a second, unsure of what to do, but decided to bring them down them both down to the lab. Heading to the elevator, it was mere moments before the supernatural light bathed her with its almost unnatural color. Crossing the floor, she placed Dib on the table gently, but had no idea what to do with Zim as the clock slowly ticked down. 7:57, 7:56...

"Arrgh! If only I could keep his body stuck in time somehow…" The girl heard a creak behind her, and flipped around. The little dog thingy that had given her those tacos! Maybe he knew something. She took a cautious step forward, unsure of how to ask him. All of a sudden, he reached over the top of his head, between his ears, and peeled down the green costume to reveal his metallic "skin."

"Okay, so you're a robot… do you know any way I can hold his-" She held Zim up, looking straight into Gir's eyes to get the point across, "-body in this state while I wait for Dib to help me find a way to fix it?" Gir danced over to a shadowy part of the lab that had fallen under slight disrepair. He pointed at a huge metal structure that resembled a doorframe. He pointed back at her, gesturing to Mira to give him Zim. As she stepped forward, she took note of the fact his eye, shoulder and chest lights had switched to blood red. He snatched his master from her arms, then tossed him into the air and flicked a switch next to the frame. She started to ask why, but an eerie emerald light sparked from both sides, melting into one solid sheet before Zim started falling, capturing him in the force shield.

"So what is that? Some kind of time stasis field?" Gir nodded slowly, stuck in duty mode because Master was in such grave danger. She took a seat on a pile of burned rubber piggies, not sure what to do now.

"I guess I just wait for Dib to wake up…" She shrugged, knowing how awful the situation was but having no idea how to think her way out of their predicament. Sighing, the girl decided to take a look around.

It's not like she could hurt anything, right?

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><p>AN Gah, near the end that doesn't even sound like my style-it sounds kind of forced… future chapters will be better, I promise! Rate review, ect… Oh, and by the way… this fic has more attention then Negative Sonic, but like 30 less reviews. Please do review! (Forgive a tiny mistake here and there. I kind of rushed this one a bit) Oh, and next chapter will be results of the poll, so any last minute voters go now! Edit-so far we have a tie. I'll say it as a tie if there's no winner, so vote!


	21. Chapter 21

A/N I'm working on 3 different stories right now. I know I need to budget my time better, but I'm going to try to keep up updates as best I can. Just a side note-the first part is pretty much in Mira's point of narration, so some things that are foreign to her are common things to Dib or Zim, like Irken writing or things that that they use or do in skool. Just clearing that up. And Gir will be in kick*ss Duty mode all chapter, but you'll see the importance of this fact later. (I like writing for duty mode Gir better-seems easier to me, for some reason. I can't quite nail down his total randomness when he's his normal malfunctioning self.) And I will be using a bit more blood in the story-I just got back into reading JTHM. (Nothing _nearly _that graphic, however, don't worry. I'm not _that _crazy, and I know some of the readers of this story are a bit younger.) This is one of my favorite chapters so far... I go back to the first few chapters and wince. Anyways, forgive my babbling and enjoy!

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><p>Mira wandered randomly around the lab, trying to take in everything. She used her eyes as much as possible, still trying to get the best from them. She'd been given 2020 vision, but would take a while before she could unconsciously use it consistently. After about 10 minutes, she had discovered three things… Most of the stuff was either glowing or vibrating, there were buttons and levers everywhere, and a lot of the stuff had lavender child-proof locks.

"Hmm, what's this?" She spotted something not glowing-it was an oak door. When she got closer, the swirling patterns became more obvious-they were some sort of foreign language. When her fingers slid down to the knob, the girl was surprised to feel the cool metal instantly click open when she gently twisted her wrist.

"Anyone in here?" She inquired quietly-who knew what kind of other robots Zim had. When only empty silence answered her, she felt around for light switch. Upon finding it, she flicked it up, flooding the room with pale off white color as she took a slow step forward. When nothing jumped out, her confidence mounted and she walked faster through the dusty piles of junk. After about a minute and a half of paranoia-she whirled around twice, muttering 'ghosts'-she saw a small emerald folder, fairly thick, with the same squiggles that were on the door gracing the front of it. Curious, she poked a finger on the top-no booby traps, at least.

"Hmmm… looks normal enough…" She picked it up, and was shocked at the contents once she opened it.

It was all about Dib. Or their rivalry, at least. The first picture was a class picture. Dib was sitting next to the girl with braces and purple hair holding the 'Miss Bitters 5th grade class' sign. Dib was holding up a fist and his lips were slipped up in a smirk, and Zim was mirroring him. But, it looked like Zim was growling rather than bearing a sly smile.

The rest weren't much better, just notes of what irritated him the worst and what time he got to skool, stuff like that.

"What's this?" It was another picture, but this one looked like it had been printed off of a computer-lots of pixels. Looking closer, she made out Zim and Dib-_hugging?_

"What the… oh." She noticed the grimaces on their faces-it was obvious they hadn't been in that position by choice. Setting the folder down, she wandered around some more before stumbling over some old Pak blueprints-literally stumbling.

"Wooooah!" Her silver buckled boots flew into the air when she tripped over-what looked kind of like a bowl with polka dots. Grumbling as she pushed herself up, she pulled the crumpled papers out of her face and held them at arm's length.

"Pack Schematics? What is-why is Dib's name on the top?" Inspecting the papers closer, her friend's name was indeed the title, and she noticed there were a lot of red lines leading to the complex electrical circuits and crossing a lot of stuff out and replacing it with other names-about half were in English, but they were too technical to figure out.

"Maybe I'll need these later." Tucking the papers into her jean pocket, she weeded her way back through the junk to make her way through the door when she heard a faint call.

"What's going on here?" She smiled weakly, glad Dib was up.

"I'll be there in a-oh, hi Dib." He was sitting up and rubbing his head, and had a confused look on his face.

"What happened? I remember a bright light…" Mira sighed, her brown hair rustling gently when she shrugged.

"Well, your friend got his backpack pulled off, and you passed out." Dib shot off of the table, and flew over to Mira, picking her up by the chest of her shirt and yanking the girl off of the ground.

"_When did that happen?" _She had to think for a second, then checked her watch.

"About seven and a half minutes ago. But he's fine. The dog-robot, whatever-put him in some kind of suspended animation." Suddenly, she remembered the blueprints. "Hey, can you use these?" Snatching them with his left hand, the other still holding Mira, Dib looked them over.

"Ahem… can you drop me?" Dib's head jolted as he looked at her.

"Oh… right…" He lowered them both, turning his attention back to the papers.

"These may have just saved Zim's life. Bring me to him-you said Gir put him in a time stasis field-oh. Wait. I know where it is." Dib took the lead, easily maneuvering above the piles of junked mechanical projects and burned rubber toys to make it to the field. Zim looked exactly the same as always, except his eyes were closed. And, of course, the fact that he was floating.

"Well, I have no idea how this thing survived that explosion…"

"What?" The boy turned to his friend, his face expressionless.

"I was trapped in this thing once for about 3 days. Long story. Where's the remote control?" She pointed at the switch, and they both leaned closer. There were four labels- two that looked like the squiggles she'd seen on the folder and two in English. Mira was surprised when Dib traced his finger over the squiggles. He murmured something that sounded foreign, his eyes closed.

"What was that?" Dib looked up, his eyes fierce.

"_Heipiquis_. Hope." He sighed deeply, trench coated shoulders drooping, then looked at Mira, really drilling his gaze into hers. "Where is the Pak?" She had to think for a second, and her brow furrowed in concentration as she tried to recall.

"Umm…. It's still in the kitchen." Dib ran over for the elevator, dragging Mira behind him.

_Man, he got strong… _Her feet were barely touching the floor as Dib raced across the tiles, reaching the elevator in mere seconds. He pulled her up, then pushed a golden button to close the door.

"Why can't we just use this elevator instead of the toilet?"

"This one's the trash, actually."

"Oh…" The silence was awkward, but thankfully short. When Mira's hand pushed the lid open, Dib crossed the kitchen in slow motion, as if the moment was a romantic scene where the lovers were reunited after years of grief. Dib felt much the same as the time before that climax moment. The boy knew there was hope, but still felt the crushing pressure of possible failure. He grabbed the Pak, careful not to let it touch his chest, so as not to further move the damaged wires.

"Okay, you can go down, so I can't accidentally shock you." Mira nodded, actually saluting the new, take-charge Dib in front of her before disappearing back into the ground. The boy chuckled softly- imagine, someone seeing him as an authority figure and _not _calling him crazy while doing it! - while he moved over to the toilet before flushing himself down. The first thing he heard was a quick whirring sound, kind of like computer booting up. His heart sped up as he heard Mira weakly protest against something.

"Hey, what are you _doing?" _Dib's eyes took a single precious moment to readjust to the light before he could see the cause of his oldest friend's distress.

"_Gir_? Let her go!" The robot didn't even turn, and Dib, horrified, noticed that all of his lights were blood red. That couldn't be good…*

"_It brought in Master injured. Thus, it must have something to do with it and must be punished_." The robot tightened his death grip around the girl's throat, and her face was starting to turn blue.

"Let. Her._ Go." _Dib said in the most menacing voice he could muster, which actually sounded pretty creepy. Gir just dropped Mira and shot over to Dib, pulling him up instead.

"_You have been deemed a more immediate threat, Big-head Boy." _

"Geez…" Dib gasped, trying to breathe. "Your circuits must have gotten messed up…I'm trying to _help_ Zim, remember?" Gir's eyes narrowed, gripping Dib tighter. It seemed his memories had been wiped when he'd been locked in Duty mode. Suddenly, Dib jerked out of his grip, flipping upside down, the momentum pushing him in a full circle. He floated to a 'standing' position, one foot up slightly. Gir's jaw dropped open, as he accessed all he knew about humans-but, being Gir, there wasn't much useful. Even duty mode couldn't change that.

"_Impossible! Humans cannot fly! They are a weak, ground based species…" _Dib smiled, feeling truly at ease with his power for the first time. He saw it as not as a toy, but a way of pushing himself closer to his goal. What was that old saying? 'With great power comes great responsibility.'

"Then maybe I'm not human." He shot forward, knocking the robot off balance for a moment and putting a good dent in his over proportioned head. However, the robot simply spun around, then reached inside his head, pushing the metal back into place.

"_You will pay._" The three words, although spoken with nearly the same mechanical edge that Dib had gotten used to, were much deeper-Gir scared him more now more than Zim had almost ever did.

"Bring it." Dib said, attempting to act like he wasn't scared. Gir narrowed his eyes, the red colored lights flashing around the orbs like a puddle of fresh blood on the surface of a frozen pond. Gir shot forward again, this time with his arm raised, the wrist glowing.

"What a-AHHHH!" A laser shot out of Gir's glowing wrist, getting Dib right in the stomach. Luckily, it was a relatively weak laser-it didn't cut all the way through his spine. Unluckily, it did cut through his clothes and into his flesh. Dib gripped his now bleeding torso, looking up at the robot with a mixture of fear and anger.

"Now you're just asking for it!" He flew towards Gir as fast as he could, but the robot just jumped up higher into the air.

"Use this!" Mira tossed something toward Dib, but it fell short of the mark, causing the hammer to slow its ascent and start sinking towards the floor- and the girl- again. Hearing her cry, Dib turned away from Gir, swooping down and grabbing the tool an instant before in hit her head- and sparing Zim a huge bloody mess, if and when he ever woke up. Twirling the cool wood in his fingers, Dib waited until Gir slowly floated closer before grabbing the robot and prying the top of his white head open with the back of the hammer.

"_No! Can't….be…" _Gir mumbled, arms and legs flailing weakly while Dib rooted around in the robot's cranium.

"Where is it… where is-ah!" He reached in deeper, up to his elbow, pulling out a small snowy white chip with silver swirly lines chasing each other around the front and back of the AI chip. As soon as Dib pulled the microchip out, Gir went limp. Dib slowly lowered to the ground, his stomach suddenly feeling like rubber. He dropped Gir before falling to his knees, clutching the wound in his abdomen.

"Dib, are you sure you're okay?" Dib tried to look up encouragingly, but everything seemed kind of fuzzy… He could feel how much blood he was losing, and knew it was too much to stay completely conscious.

"Pull… rip off a sleeve. Tie it around my…" He simply pointed to his bleeding torso. Mira's eyes widened in worry as she yanked off a sleeve of Di's trench coat, then tied it around his waist. The boy tried not to flinch, but the stinging sensation was too much, and he winced heavily.

"We… we still need to fix Z-" He coughed, and was horrified to feel his hand suddenly feel warmer when he covered his mouth. Slowly moving his fist away, the crimson blood dripped slowly from his fist.

"No way. You're in no shape to-" Dib pushed a hand against Mira's mouth, cutting the girl off mid-word. He let the arm slowly drop to the floor before planting both of his palms against the cool tile, gingerly pushing himself up. When he faced Mira, she knew he was beyond logical reasoning.

"We're going to fix Zim. Bring me to him _now."_

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><p>AN It's 11/11/11... I'm living history! WOO! Okay, this story has definitely taken a darker turn. This will be one of the worst chapters, I promise. I think this chapter was written better then some of the previous chapters... perhaps I really am getting a bit better. Oh yes, the results of the voting. The winner is…*Drumroll* A tie! It's between Dib and Gir. Gaz got one vote too, through. Personally, I'd go for Dib, but that's me.

*To my knowledge, Dib has never seen Gir in Duty mode, or at least he wasn't in it for a more than a few seconds when he was there. Just a side note.


	22. Chapter 22

A/N I'm going to be spending time on the other stories, but I will never leave a story to die. If I do, you are free to send me as much hate mail as you can. But please, not until I announce that it's on ice. Oh, by the way, I will probably take advantage of the 'T' rating. Some angst in this chapter, just a forewarning. On with the horribly OOC story! (But I'm getting a little better about keeping them in character. I hope. But it makes the rest of the story seem off. Oh well. And I should stop making fragments.)

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><p>Dib tried to walk bravely, but he was involuntarily wincing every few seconds. He didn't even seem to notice, though-his eyes were full of blazing determination. Mira was scattering junk with one hand and clutching the Pak with the other. It took a few minutes to cross the lab, minutes that seemed to torture the slightly insaning Dib. Blood was still dripping out of his mouth and chest, but the boy seemed oblivious to the drops falling onto his trench coat, making an inaudible splash as they fell into each other.<p>

When they were both once again standing under the time stasis field, time seemed as slow as it was in the machine in front of them. Taking a deep breath. Dib held his hand out behind him, and Mira instantly placed the Pak in the crook of his arm. As he pulled his arm back, Dib dropped to his knees and grabbed a red toolbox that happened to be within arm' reach.

"Will you be able to fix it?" Dib glanced up for a moment, then instantly turned back to his work, opening the toolbox with a small click and pulling the Pak blueprints out of his pocket. His pink shirt rustled as he moved his trench coat, grabbing a wrench from the box.

"If I don't, Zim will die. And so help me, if Zim dies then I'm going too." Mira shifted from foot to foot nervously, feeling awkward and useless.

"Can I help in any way?" Dib shook his head slowly, wincing again. _Note to self…_ _Motion hurts, don't move more than necessary._

"Not really. Can I have the screwdriver?" Mira sighed, getting on her knees next to the boy and pushing her arm into the mess of metal. This was going to take a while.

xxxxxxx

2 hours later, they were almost done. There were a few thick gray wires still crawling out of the back of the Pak, but Dib assured Mira that those were normal. Dib looked into Mira's baby blue eyes, and an entire silent conversation passed between the two. Forcing herself to smile, Mira curled her fingers around the switch and flipped it up. There was a small _fzzzt_ as the green field fizzled. A spark traveled in a zigzag pattern, cutting it in half. On either side, the glow retraced into the frame and Zim suddenly dropped, his antennae twitching. Dib dove to grab the Irken, reaching out his arms. The alien landed with a soft thump, and Dib pulled him up to cradle the boy.

"It'll be fine…" He picked up the Pak clumsily, and slowly flipped the Irken over. Being as gentle as he would have been with a baby, he gingerly placed the Pak on his old nemesis's back. The wires instantly wormed their way into the holes in his back, and Zim started twitching. Sparks rode his body like surfers on a wave for a second, then he lay stock still. His skin was a pale green, and slick with sweat. Dib rubbed his old rival's forehead slowly, the boy's own brow creased with worry.

"Z-Zim? Are you-" Dib instantly went silent as Zim growled gently, still unconscious.

"Are you awake?" Zim rolled over, playing with Dib's imitation uniform.

"Meh… no…" The sides of Dib's mouth played up into the beginnings of a smile.

"Good. Now what do I do with you?" He shook Zim gently, hoping to wake him up naturally. No luck.

"But… but My Tallest… Why?" Two sets of eyes widened at the same time, and Mira looked to Dib, the fear plastered on her face like mud.

"Is he hallucinating?" Dib shook his head slowly, then laid his hand on the Irken's forehead, letting it stay there.

"He's got a fever. COMPUTER!"

_**Whaaaat?**_

"I need a bottle of clean water and a cloth." The computer hummed and buzzed for a few excruciating moments, but finally dropped a bottle and a washcloth with the Armada symbol on top of Dib's head. Dib reached up to grab them both carefully with one hand, tilting the wig in the process. Mira snatched it off, crumpling the hairpiece and tossing it aside.

"You look more like I remember thinking you would look like now…" Dib looked up at the girl, confused.

"I mean, your hair was one of the only things I remembered about you. That and the shape of your big-"

"Don't even say it." Dib warned.

"-Head." Mira finished, smirking. Zim may be in trouble, but Dib looked like he was about to rip somebody apart in frustration. He needed to vent, and Mira opened herself to be the victim. Dib just glowered at her for a few moments, his hazel eyes shooting daggers. Finally, he looked back down at Zim, but his tense grip had loosened the tiniest bit.

"I can sympathize." Mira said slowly. Dib had wet the cloth, and now turned up to her, his eyes still narrowed. "The feeling of helplessness. It's like knowing exactly what you're going to do with your life, then having it ripped from you in one fell swoop." Dib held her gaze for a moment, then let his head fall, his hair drooping in front of his eyes.

"Yea." He murmured. He laid the cloth against the Irken's forehead before leaning against the post of the machine. "It stinks. Just last week my whole life was about killing Zim, but now… I've lost track of how many times we've saved each other in the past few days. It's like I'm in some kind of alternate universe…" Mira chuckled.

"If that were so, wouldn't you be the alien?" Dib sighed, shrugging his shoulders almost robotically.

"Considering I'm a clone, aren't I already?" Mira heaved her shoulders, her boots clicking as she stood up.

"Maybe. But you're not going to get anywhere moping. C'mon, I found something you might want to see." Dib looked panicked for a second as he scuttled closer to Zim, who was still muttering nonsense under his breath. Mira turned around, her head swiveling around to catch her old friend's gaze.

"He's not going anywhere. Besides… well, just come see." Dib reluctantly pushed himself up and grabbed Mira's hand.

"I probably shouldn't do this, but…" Dib pulled Mira up to his chest and jumped into the air.

"Okay, how do you DO that?" Mira questioned, opening her eyes as wide as they would go. When Dib looked down at her face, he noted that the baby blue seemed darker than usual in the faint light, the color more normal.

"Well, I guess Membrane couldn't resist giving me some… upgrades." Mira's mouth opened and closed wordlessly a few times as Dib got closer to the middle of the lab, away from the clutter. When Dib set them down, she faced him with her arms dangling limply at her sides, wrinkling her t-shirt.

"Did you say Membrane ? As in, Professor Membrane who gave me back my sight?" Dib nodded, gritting his teeth and wrinkling his nose as if he smelled something bad.

"That jerk led me to believe I was his son, and that my mother had died when Gaz was born. Bull. When all this time, I was just a clone… if I had known earlier, I would have teamed up with Zim to destroy the stupid, ignorant HUMANS!" He shouted the words, blood rushing up to his cheeks. Years of frustration poured forth, spilling out like Niagara Falls. Mira grabbed his head, and turned it to face her.

"Listen. You seem to hate him, and you have a good reason to. But he gave me back my sight. I owe the man my whole life. Besides… well, if he thought you were a failure, how are you still here? Wouldn't he have simply gotten rid of you? No, he cared enough to leave you still alive, so believe that deep down he knows you're a success. You may be crazy, but hey, who isn't just a little bit nuts? Boring people, that's who. You've lived a more exciting life in thirteen years them most people do in a lifetime." When she finished her little speech, Dib's eyes cleared, and the pupils dropped to the floor.

"I… I guess I never thought of it that way." Mira tried to smile weakly, and grabbed the boy's wrist.

"Now c'mon."

xxxxxx

"Wow, something real? Not made of nanos?" Mira had led him to the oak door, and he traced the Irken lettering carved into the entrance.

"_Memory room…" _

"What?" Mira said. Dib looked up, startled. For a second, he'd forgotten Mira was there.

"Did I say that out loud?"

"Yea, but it sounded like- oh. You were talking whatever language Zim speaks natively, right?"

"Oh. I didn't even know I said that in Irken. It says _Memory room." _

"You did it again." Dib massaged his throat, confused. He noticed a pad of paper and a purple pencil with a big grip, so he grabbed them and scrawled down the name.

'Memory Room'

"I wonder why I can't say it out loud?" Dib puzzled to himself. "Oh well. This is what it says." He tossed the paper to Mira, who almost instantly folded it up and chucked it back.

"It's not funny, Dib. Just come in." Dib opened the paper, and was shocked to see the Irken writing.

_What's happening to me? _The question buzzed around the inside of his skull like a hive of bees. Something felt off, but what? He followed Mira into the room, and tried to maneuver around the piles of scraps. He even remembered a few-the enlarging machine for Pepe, a canister labeled 'Happy Popping Juice', and a spare body for Gir. After a short trip down memory lane, he walked over to where Mira was waving.

"So, what did you want to show me?" She held out a dark green folder with the words 'Dib Munkey' in big letters.

"Why would he have a whole folder devoted to '_Dib Munkey?'"_

"You did it again. What does it say?" Dib looked up at her, fear wriggling up his face like tentacles up their prey.

"I swear I'm not doing this, Mira. Oh, and it says my name." As he opened the folder, memory after memory tripped over each other to get attention. The time Zim ambushed him on the way to skool and Gaz beat the crap out of him for getting her Gameslave muddy, skool pictures, when Keef forced them to hug so they could be rid of him...

_"Wow... memories. Maybe you're_ right, Mira."

"Seriously Dib, knock it off. I'm right about what?" Dib smacked the gray casing on his Pak, the tip of his index finger resting on the navy blue circle.

"Stupid thing must be malfunctioning." Mira dropped her gaze to the floor, and started playing with her fingers and traced a semicircle in the dust on the tile with her boot.

"..Malfunctioning... right..."

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><p>AN And, here's chapter 22! Not much to say... please R&R, vote on my poll, and Merry early Jingly to one and all! I own nothing. Nothing at all. Except my brain, but who would want that? Oh yes... by the way, the title seems so irrelevant now. Anyone have any good ideas for a better, more fitting title?

-Shadowdib


	23. Chapter 23

A/N I. Am. So. Sorry. I can't even think of words to express how sorry I am. I just lost inspiration, and I had a really bad writers block for this story for a while. Please, please, PLEASE forgive me. *puppy face* Anyway, all right, here's the next chapter! I OWN NOTHING.

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><p>Dib shrugged it off, filing his new little 'language issue' to the back of his mind. He shuffled through the papers, often chuckling at the memories. Mira contented herself with studying a small handheld device with an extended arm that ended in a metal eyeball. She fiddled with the buttons, moving the eye up, down, left and right. After a minute, she noticed the violet color of the machine and clucked her tongue.<p>

"Geez, everything here is purple..." She muttered under her breath. Suddenly, a loud scream caused them both to jump and drop their discoveries.

"DIB-STINK! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS, YOU FILTHY-" The rest was all jumbled together, but you didn't have to be a genius to figure out what came next. Dib pivoted on his heels, racing out to meet his frie-nemy.

"Zim?" The boy called softly, surveying the lab. Suddenly, a loud 'snap' came from in front of the door and four thick wires erupted from the wall, twisting themselves around Dib, trapping the boy like a fly in a web. When Dib heard a rustling coming from behind the open door, he instinctively squinted toward the noise-and jolted his head back. Two maroon flattened semicircles were glaring at him as Zim stepped out from behind the frame. His eyes were practically glowing in the low light, and even pupil-less they were obviously shooting daggers at the boy. For the first time in a great while, the irken scared the crap out of Dib. The human struggled against his restrainings, but to no avail. The wires were too thick for even his Pak weapons to break through.

"A bit tangled up, aren't you?" Zim hissed, before he started laughing. Hard. It was his old laugh, his 'none of you are worth it' mad scientist chuckle. Dib felt his heart sink for a moment before he felt anger rise though his chest and set the blood under his eyes boiling. He closed his eyes, concentrating as hard as he could. The thick wires used for recharging wriggled out of the Pak, curling around the cords restraining him and pulling them away the slightest bit, enough for Dib to wriggle out. He jumped into the air, pulling the jumble of wiring with him. The boy pulled his charger back into his Pak, before gazing towards the ground where his nemesis stood, stunned.

"Dib-worm? How… who…what?" He stammered, confused as heck. Suddenly, sparks started erupting from his Pak, running up towards the alien's head. He twitched, refusing to make a sound. However, the irken collapsed to his knees. Dib dropped down, debating whether to help the alien. After a moment, with a sigh he walked toward Zim. The Irken had his eyes squeezed tightly shut, but when Dib approached, he opened them slowly.

"Dib…" Zim muttered, shaking his head. "What happened…?" Dib patted his back, rubbing the upper area above the Pak. Zim looked up, his gloves slowly closing on the tile, making scratching noises.

"Um… how much do you remember?" Zim shook his head again, blinking, before pushing himself unsteadily to his feet. He had to lean heavily on the wall, but eventually Zim responded, choosing each word carefully.

"I remember… getting shocked. Then everything goes black." Dib nodded, thinking.

"_All right then, after that we had to reattach your Pak. I guess _you lost your memory when we did. I just hope I _didn't mess up."_ Zim teetered, and Mira ran up, catching Zim before he fell. She helped him stand back up, but he pulled away as soon as he was steady, muttering something about 'pathetic hyumans'. Mira walked over to Dib, her blue eyes surprisingly hard.

"Dib, it was never funny in the first place, but knock it off!"

"Knock what off?" Dib was mystified.

"Talking in… whatever language that was!" Dib poked his throat.

"I swear _I'm not doing it_ on purpose." Zim glanced up.

"Dib, how ARE you speaking Irken? I only had time to program your Pak with basic phrases."

"For the LAST time, _I'm not doing it!" _Zim walked over to Dib, gaining more stability with every step. He marched around to Dib's back, before popping open the Pak case. Dib instantly felt a small shock, before an uncomfortable warmth spread throughout his body. His legs started shaking, and he had to hold out his arms for a moment to stay upright.

"_Zim,_ what _the hell are_ _you_ doing?" Dib hissed. Zim murmured something under his breath, too low for the human to catch. Suddenly, a sharp shock rode through his torso. Dib's eyes widened, and he clutched his chest.

"_Zim, KNOCK IT OFF!" _Dib's shout caused Zim to stumble away and Mira to back up. Dib reached around and snapped his Pak case closed before turning to Zim.

"_What's going on? What are you doing?" _Zim readjusted something in his own Pak before snapping back angrily.

"_I was trying to fix your language port, but it's blocked! I had to shift a few things around. Your whole Pak is practically a time bomb, because I had to make it myself! It has more viruses then even MINE!" _Dib stumbled back, his eyes widening again.

_"WHAT?" _Zim hung his head, fumbling with his fingers.

"_I'm not the best technician on Irk… the Paks are usually made by machines, and I only had my own to go off of, so…" _

"Will SOMEONE please speak English?" Mira shouted. Zim turned toward her instantly, but Dib just looked confused.

"_What did she say?" _Zim's eyes widened, and he fiddled with his Pak for a moment, going back to English.

"Can you understand me?" Dib read his lips, then slowly shook his head.

_"No, it sounds like you're speaking Japanese or something!" _Zim started pacing, clasping his hands behind his back.

"This is bad… this is very bad…"

_"What?" _

"Oooooh…" Zim growled, and Dib perked up, recognizing the sound.

_"Hey, I understood that!" _Mira decided to interrupt.

"Wait… so you understood that?" Dib nodded at her, before realizing what that meant.

_"Well, I guess that part was temporary…" _Mira groaned, holding her head and turned to Zim.

"You're an alien-don't you have a translator or something?" Zim shrugged.

"Computer! Make an Irken to English translator!"

**_Fiiine, but It'll take a bit to make. Fifteen minutes, tops._**

"Fine!" Zim yelled back, before turning to Mira.

"You can leave, you know."

"Of course I know, but I get the feeling he's going to need someone to help dictate whether he's speaking English or… Irken, wasn't it?" Zim and Dib both responded 'yes' at the same time, one in English and one in Irken.

"Okaaay…" Mira collapsed into a nearby chair, while Zim kept trying-and failing- to get Dib to say something in English.

_"It's not working, Space boy! This whole mess is your fault anyway!"_

_"My fault? How is it MY FAULT, Earth smell?"_

_"If you hadn't given me that Pak, we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with!"_

_"No, it started when YOU pushed me into that puddle!"_

_"You tripped!"_ On and on it went, with them sounding more and more like the enemies they had started out as, except for the fact that they were both screaming in Irken.

"Let's hope that computer finishes fast." Mira muttered.

**_The translator is finished! Portable, or large? _**The echoing voice seemed to shake Zim out of his fight, and he called up,

"Portable!" A tray attached to a chord dropped a small, noodle looking device into Zim's outstretched hand.

"This should do nicely." Zim held out his hand, curling his index finger to get Dib to come over to him. Dib moved slowly, but was in front of the former invader within moments. Zim carefully tucked the translator behind his ear, then clicked it on.

"Say something!" Zim commanded.

"O-Okay…" Dib said quietly, but his voice sounded… familiar. It was the voice of a certain alien standing right in front of him.

"COMPUTER!" Zim screeched. "Why does the Dib have my voice?"

**_Well, I had to use a voice I've heard a lot. Yours was the easiest. _**Zim gritted his teeth and responded slowly.

"Bring up all of the security videos of the Dib-with sound." He started tapping his boot while the computer separated the normal videos from the ones with Dib. It took almost 5 minutes, and Dib kept saying things in Zim's voice. After a while, he yelled some of Zim's usual catchphrases just to pass the time.

"I AM ZIIIII-woah. How does your voice NOT give out doing that?" Dib rubbed his throat. "I mean, geez… let's see… I AM NORMAL!" He started laughing, and his light, almost giggling laugh sounded ridiculous in Zim's voice.

"…Shut up, Dib." Zim said, not even turning around, his attention on the loading bar gracing the massive screen.

"Aw, I never have any fun."

**_Files gathered! Total number of videos-413. _**Zim nodded, tapping his finger to his lip.

"Good. Analyze the Dib's voice from each of them and change the translator's audio to his."

**_Fine. _**Dib blinked up at the vast number of videos playing on the big screen, each and every one containing him. Some had him bribing Gir, some had him simply sneaking in, some even caught his stealth suit.

"You could have captured me so many times…" He turned to Zim. "Why didn't you?" The alien skirted his gaze, clicking his boots on the floor and crossing his knees over each other.

"…I don't know." He looked up at the boy. "I suppose I knew that if I captured you, it would all get too boring."

"No argument there. Who else would have the guts to tell you how stupid you looked every single day?"

"Yea… wait, WHAT?" Dib laughed as Zim started chasing him around the lab. To Mira, they looked like Tom and Jerry. Chasing each other in endless circles, neither ever getting anywhere. The computer let out a soft 'ting' when it was finished, but the boys didn't notice, too intent on their chase.

"Hey, guys?" Mira called softly. Zim wacked Dib on the head, pulling on his scythe lock. Dib cried out in pain, his voice halfway between Zim's and his own.

"Guys?" She called a little louder. Now Dib was rubbing his head and glaring at Zim with malice. The alien was laughing and pointing at him, his eyes squinted shut and his mouth open. All of a sudden, Dib pounced on the Irken, yanking up his antennae. Zim shrieked, tears spilling out of his eyes.

"STOP, STOP! I SURRENDER!" Dib grinned, picking himself up and dusting his pants off.

"Hah. I wi-hey, my voice is back!" Dib rubbed his throat. "Sweet!" Zim was still on the floor, trying to stop crying. Sheepish, Dib helped him up.

"I guess we got carried away, huh?" Zim shook his head, chucking.

"No, Dib-monkey. I needed that." Mira looked at them awkwardly, feeling out of place. She finally decided to speak up.

"Well, what say we test it out? Anyone up for a walk?" Dib blinked at her, before nodding slowly and turning to face Zim.

"Zim? You okay for a-"

"Yes." Dib shrugged.

"We probably needed to go to my house soon anyway-I need to change out of these clothes." He tugged gently at the pink shirt. Mira held out her hand for Dib to take, smiling at him.

"Then let's go." They walked into the elevator, before Zim nodded.

"Computer! House level!"

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><p>AN This chapter is really dialouge-heavy... Again, I can never apologize enough for not updating for 3 whole months. I hope you liked the chapter, and please Rate and Review. I would be most grateful. (And no, I'm not going to make this a Dib x OC romance. Eww.)


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